Professional Experience Placement

This article (in press) outlines the issues of providing support to nursing students in rural areas.  It demonstrates that innovation to accommodate students in small communities can result in high quality professional experiences in non-traditional settings for students.  This article provides background about the issues associated with accommodating students within small healthcare environments and the ability to collaborate with other healthcare providers to enable students to gain a range of experiences including being immersed in general practices, schools and pharmacies.  Students have the opportunity to observe or undertake healthcare activities such as health promotion, education or be involved with clinics and outreach activities.

The article reports on a pilot study undertaken within Tasmania from the preceptors’ perspective. Preceptors reported that it was useful for students and generally the presence of the facilitator was useful as there was a reciprocal learning that occurred between students and preceptors. Having students was not as onerous as it may have been to some preceptors as they were shared across the community. Preceptors also mentioned it was useful to showcase the community or facility and had potential as a workforce recruitment strategy.

While this study was a pilot project there is potential to expand the model to other rural areas.

If you have any comments about being a preceptor in a rural area you are welcome to post them here.  Please join us @PEPCommunity.