Information for Preceptors

Thank you for volunteering to be a preceptor for a De Anza College nursing student!

Following the links provided on this page, you will be able to access various materials that will assist you in making your precepting experience a positive one.

To start off, it is mandated by the Board of Registered Nursing that I maintain records for each preceptor that our program uses.  Please complete the following Preceptorship Data Survey and the clinical instructor will collect it on her first site visit.  (Alternately, you may send the form to me via the student.)  This data will be kept in a locked file and will not be shared with anyone except the BRN at their request.

Probably one of the most frequently asked questions about our program is what the student is allowed to do with regard to IV therapy.  Our IV Therapy Policy will answer most of your questions about what our students are able to perform.  Students may insert peripheral IV catheters if allowed by hospital policy.  They may also flush saline locks, but not Heparin locks.  Our students are instructed and observed performing medication administration via IV Push.  Not all hospitals, however, allow students to perform this procedure.  At the time of this page update, the only hospitals we use for preceptorship that allow students to perform medication administration via IV Push are Good Samaritan Hospital and El Camino Hospital (with the EXCEPTION of their critical care units).  Of course, a good rule of thumb is: if in doubt as to whether or not a student can perform   skill or procedure xyz     , have the student observe this time, and clarify with the instructor for future reference.

Your Orientation: To orient you to the De Anza College Preceptorship program, please view the document Preceptorship Packet which you can simply view online or print if you'd like a permanent copy.  This document is a self-study which you may complete at your own pace, and will familiarize you with our nursing program philosophy and objectives of the preceptorship experience.  Any forms in the packet are samples only, as the student will come to you with all necessary forms that he or she will need.  After you have reviewed the material, you may complete the Continuing Education Test and earn 4 hours of CE credit for returning the test to me.

Documentation

During the preceptorship, the student must meet the clinical objectives as described on the Clinical Evaluation Tool for the course.  Although completion of this document is the responsibility of the clinical instructor (not the preceptor) and the student, the student will need to review the tool with you periodically to ensure that he or she is meeting all required clinical objectives.  You can view this tool by clicking here: Clinical Evaluation Tool Nursing 86L

The documentation I wish the preceptor to complete is more concise.  Please print this document, and complete it every 2 weeks.  This is the only documentation required of the preceptor.  The purpose of this document is to provide timely feedback to the student, identifying strengths and areas for improvement, and also to provide communication with the instructor between instructor site visits.  You can access this one-page document by clicking here: Preceptor Documentation Page

In addition to the required objectives of the course, the student will also come to you with certain goals which he or she wishes to work on during the preceptorship.  These might be unit-specific goals, or may be more general, such as "time management" or "organization."  To view some of the more typical student goals, please click on the following link: Sample Student Goals

Instructor telephone numbers:

Patricia O'Neill, Lead Instructor: 408-864-8641

Instructor cell phone numbers will be given out individually to preceptors and announced to students during orientation.

If you are unable to reach an instructor and need to contact someone urgently, you may try (1^st) our Executive Head Judith Clavijo: (408) 864-8397, or (2^nd) our Dean, Stephanie Sherman, (408) 864-8332.

*Clinical instructors are Patricia O'Neill and Julie Friend.  Please contact the instructor assigned to you and your student if you have any concerns or questions between site visits.  If you are unable to contact the assigned instructor, you may try contacting the other instructor.  Thanks again for agreeing to be a preceptor.  Please call me or e-mail me at pattyo@aol.com if you have any questions.  (If using e-mail, please write "De Anza College" in the subject line.)