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...teacher, buddy, a guide, a confidant, an advocate, a friend, and a helper during the orientation process. Many health care institutions have found this role effective in improving orientation of new nursing staff, and an important support to retention of nursing personnel. Applying preceptorship concepts in a formal manner for non-nursing personnel seems a reasonable next step.
Many types of employees besides nurses are critical to the operation of hospitals and ambulatory care facilities, such as transporters, patient registration and scheduling personnel, billing and financial counselors, and maintenance staff. Some individuals entering into these roles are as young as 18 years of age and are just entering the workforce after completing high school. Others may have work experience, but in areas as varied as retail and banking, but with little or no experience in health care organizations.
Preceptorship: New for Some
At the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), there are approximately 600 employees in the department of Ambulatory Care Services. Of these 600, approximately 60% are clinical personnel, such as RNs, LPNs, patient care technicians, ophthalmic technicians, and dental assistants. These clinical staff have benefitted from preceptorship programs for several years. However, within Ambulatory Care Services, a high turnover rate was experienced in the non-clinical staff positions, with a number of these employees leaving within the first few months of employment. Beginning in 2005, a preceptor program was implemented for the other 40%, the non-clinical staff, whose job titles include transporters, registration and scheduling staff, financial counselors, administrative assistants, and building operations staff, among others. Within the next year, the MUSC Excellence Program was started, which applied many tenets from The Studer Group and Quint Studer's book, Hardwiring Excellence (2003). Key concepts adopted for the Excellence Program included purpose, worthwhile work, and making a difference. According to Studer (2003), a key outcome defining excellence "is when employees feel valued." The Ambulatory Care Non-clinical Preceptor Program was developed based upon the hypothesis that new employees would feel valued if they were paired with competent role models as their preceptor.
The preceptor program for new non-clinical employees follows the same guidelines and principles as that used with new nursing or clinical staff. The goal of the Ambulatory Care Preceptor Program is for preceptors to promote the...
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