My nurse educator approached me about precepting a nursing student this semester. How do I balance my accountabilities while supporting a learner with my high workload?
This can be a stressful situation. At the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), we know ongoing health system pressures can create uncertainty for many nurses. We also know, in this context, you are considering patient needs, public safety and doing your very best at work each day.
First of all, we want to acknowledge the nurse educator’s request comes from a good place. It demonstrates they value your knowledge, skill and judgment and want the nursing student to learn from you how to provide safe patient care.
Second of all, it’s good that you’re assessing your capacity to manage these additional responsibilities while continuing to provide safe and competent care. This also comes from a good place and demonstrates that you are reflecting on your practice, which is important.
To help assess this situation, let’s look at your accountabilities and potential options.
As outlined in the Code of Conduct, nurses are accountable to support, mentor and teach learners, like nursing students, which includes acting as role models and sharing knowledge. You can start by reviewing our Ask Practice FAQ on supporting learners. This may help you better understand your accountabilities when doing so and identify strategies you can implement in your setting.
We note on our supporting learners FAQ page that “while nurses are accountable to support learners, their primary accountability is to place patient safety and well-being above all other objectives.”
If you don’t feel you have the capacity to support a nursing student in the way that was asked of you, you have a couple of options.
You can
- work with your employer and discuss the possibility of having a mentor or resource nurse to provide guidance while you support the nursing student
- discuss with your employer the possibility to put more supports in place, such as more than one preceptor
You can also speak with your employer about opportunities for staff to provide input and share concerns about how to support nursing students best in your practice setting.
Patient care is a shared responsibility. Nurses are accountable for supporting learners, but not at the expense of patient safety. Employers are responsible for establishing a working environment, including staffing, that supports safe and effective patient care. When you work together with your employer to highlight the needs and concerns of the practice, you can help support nursing students as well as safe patient care.
Thanks,
Emily Marcogliese, RN, PhD
Advanced Practice Consultant