What does Oprah have to do with Preceptoring?
Probably not what you think.
It is general knowledge that being a Preceptor means helping
integrate new graduates into a hospital setting, and Karen
Wood, RN, has helped over 15 nurses do just that. But Wood
realizes preceptoring goes beyond merely teaching new nurses
about Kaiser Permanente. She makes sure nurses know everything
they need to interact well with staff and patients.
"One of my last preceptees was a very quiet girl from
Korea," said Wood. "I'm more loud and boisterous.
I found out in the first couple of days that she didn't know
who Cher was or who Madonna was. I taught her all about the
culture here as well as nursing techniques. She really wanted
to know who Cher was, so I taped Oprah for her when Cher was
on. She'll be an excellent nurse, and she knows things like
what 'you go girl' means. That was a very positive experience."
Being a team player and going out of her way for her coworkers
is something Wood does often. "She goes beyond the call
of duty," said Jane Folena, Educator at Santa Clara.
"She makes up tests and does work on dolls with the nurses.
She's really great. I'd like to clone her."
Wood said that she tries to adjust her teaching to each person's
learning style. By finding creative ways to teach and share
information, she hopes to make learning a pleasurable experience.
"I try to set it up with them in the beginning that
we'll start out really slow," she said. "I make
them little pop quizzes and give them little homework assignments
if things get too busy to do work during the shift. Some things
you don't want to practice on a sick person. You don't want
to practice an ET tube on a sick baby, so I have them practice
on the CPR doll. I'll have them tape an IV onto the hand and
the foot and the head of the doll so they can see how it's
different in the different places."
Thanks to her example, other nurses have started using the
doll with their preceptees too. "We have a lot of people
learning together," said Wood. "We need to have
preceptors who can nurture and welcome people into a group.
Our unit is truly great; we have a certain number of people
who want to take new people on."
Due to a number of factors, being a Preceptor is not easy,
but Wood says that she enjoys the challenge. "It's hard
work, especially on the nite shift," said Wood. "We're
orienting people from different units all the time. We have
new grads every three months. It can be a lot more work than
just working by yourself."
But despite the extra work, Wood feels that precepting is
ultimately rewarding, both personally and to the new nurses.
"I decided to become a Preceptor because I really do
love my job," she said. "I enjoy teaching and I
want the people coming in to have a good instructor. I move
them through the program and try to make them a good, ready-to-fly
nurse."
Because of Karen Wood's outstanding work, her preceptees
can be confident that they will become more comfortable with
nursing and more knowledgeable around patients.
Back
to Top