The development and evaluation of a pediatric nurse preceptor education program in a children’s hospital

Purpose: This study aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a preceptor educational program in a children’s hospital. The program’s impact was assessed by measuring improvements in clinical competency, communication competency, and leadership competency.Methods: Four day pediatric nurse preceptor education program was developed using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model. A single-group pretest-posttest design was employed to assess the program’s effects with seventeen participants who were newly trained preceptors. Additionally, participant satisfaction with the program was measured.Results: Following the implementation of the program, significant improvements were observed in clinical competency (Z=-3.62, <i>p</i><.001), communication competency (Z=-2.77, <i>p</i>=.006), leadership competency (Z=-2.08, <i>p</i>=.038), other competence (Z=-2.64, <i>p</i>=.008), and total competency (Z=-3.52, <i>p</i><.001) among participants. The overall satisfaction score was 4.41±0.62 on a 5-point scale.Conclusion: The pediatric nurse preceptor educational program significantly enhances the overall nursing competencies of preceptor nurses in a children’s hospital. Further research is needed to evaluate the effects of this preceptorship on newly graduated nurses.