Evaluation of the support for newly graduated nurses and the support from other nurses by preceptors

Abstract

The objective of this study was to clarify the support for newly graduated nurses from preceptors and the support for preceptors from the other nurses in order to suggest the effective support for preceptors. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 110 preceptor nurses in our hospital from April 2013 to March 2014. For statistical analyses, simple tabulation and Mann-Whitney U test was conducted using a software program SPSS Ver.(20) for Windows, with a level of significance of 5%. Twenty-nine items regarding the support for newly graduated nurses received positive evaluation (over 80 percent), for example the item of [Show the nursing skills model] was 97.6%. And five items regarding the support for preceptors from the other nurses were evaluated positively (over 80 percent). Among preceptor nurses, 95.3% had an opinion that [To be a preceptor can lead to own professional growth], on the other hand, 68.2% answered [Get stressed from the role of preceptors]. There were significant higher percentage in 3 items such as [motivation as preceptor] among participants of preceptor training program. Preceptor nurses have higher motivation to support newly graduated nurses but are also stressed from this role. These finding suggest that mental support for preceptor nurses is important.