The Aga Khan University Hospital is constantly working to raise the standard of nursing education in Pakistan. It was the first university to initiate the BScN program in Pakistan in the year of 1997, and it was also the first to initiate the preceptorship model in Pakistan for its BScN, Diploma RN and Post-RN programs (Ali, Farooq, & Parpio, 2008). The Aga Khan University school of Nursing and Midwifery introduced the senior electives as a clinical practicum in the curriculum of Generic Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BScN) and Post BScN program. In this practicum, students are paired with Senior Registered Nurses, Managers, Head Nurses, Nurse Specialists, or Clinical Nurse Instructors, and these nurses are considered “preceptors” (Jaffer, 2013). On the basis of recent literatur,e and my experience of being a student and clinical preceptor at the Aga Khan School of Nursing and Midwifery, this capping project will endeavor to conceptualize the preceptorship model within Pakistan nursing education. It will also recommend future strategies for faculties and the Pakistan nursing education board on how to implement a preceptorship model to support new nurses in their transition phase.
Purpose
The purpose of this capping project is to highlight the significance of the preceptorship role in the transition of new graduate nurses, and to provide recommendations appropriate for the Pakistan nursing education context. In this way, promoted will be a preceptorship model that can foster a productive learning environment and continuous professional growth for nursing students and new graduates. Moreover, this capping project will also present some possible strategies for the implementation of this model in Pakistan nursing faculties and health care. Explicitly, the objectives of this project are to (1) conduct a review of the literature on preceptorship in Pakistan nursing education, and (2) identify and describe appropriate preceptorship models suitable to the context of Pakistan nursing education based on the preceding review.
Significance to Nursing in Pakistan
In Pakistan, the health care system has been experiencing a shortage of nurses, even though the numbers of nursing schools in the country is 109; and total estimated number of registered nurses in Pakistan is over 44,000 (Hamid, Malik, Kamran, & Ramzan, 2014). A health care system cannot provide quality care without an appropriate workforce, therefore healthcare organizations and education systems are required to support the development of a qualified nursing workforce. Preceptors may be a critical factor that can aid in the transition of new graduates. The use of preceptors to support novice nurses may allow healthcare organizations to grow and sustain appropriate levels of qualified nurses, in order to provide quality patient care (Broadbent, Moxham, Walker, Sander, & Dwyer, 2014). Pakistan’s nursing education system has not used preceptorship models, and there is a lack of awareness and research about the preceptorship to support the transition of new nurses in the Pakistan context. Thus, it is necessary to conduct a literature review to emphasize the importance of implementing a preceptorship model, as it has the potential to alleviate the challenges faced by final year nursing students and new graduates during this transition phase.