We welcome you to share your expertise and experience to help mentor our nursing students by providing real-world learning opportunities within your practice.
We are in search of nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians from across the country and in a variety of disciplines, including Psychiatric-Mental Health, Family Practice, Adult-Gerontology, Med-Surg, and others.
As a Wilkes preceptor, you’ll be giving back to the profession in which you received mentorship when you were a student. Many of our preceptors find that there’s nothing quite as satisfying as paying it forward.
One of the many advantages of distance learning is that students can study the didactic portion of their coursework online, from wherever they live. Once the student is prepared to enter the clinical portion of their curriculum, we look locally in the community for the appropriate sites that will meet their requirements.
Help shape the next generation
Wilkes is proud of its more than 40-year commitment to the professional practice of nursing. Our faculty and staff are dedicated, expert teachers and clinicians who are passionate about nursing education, and our students are bright and engaged achievers who want to reach their full potential.
All aspects of our academic programming are designed to foster student success. That’s why we believe preceptors are an extension of our team and play an essential role in the education of our students.
Wilkes University online nursing programs in need of preceptors
RN to MSN content here.
Associate Degree in Nursing (RN) to Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) — Nurse Practitioner
The RN to MSN program is for registered nurses with associate degrees who want to become nurse practitioners. It focuses on advanced clinical skills, professionalism and evidence-based practice. Our integrated exam preparation courses provide dedicated study resources, leading to impressive passing rates and graduate success. Wilkes nurses have pass rates on board certification exams that are consistently above the national average. This program offers three nurse practitioner concentrations. Preceptors have the opportunity to support students up to 545-629 clinical hours, depending on the concentration.
Curriculum Sample
Our FNP track allows students to analyze evidence-based practice to facilitate direct care for health promotion, protection and disease prevention. Students learn how to apply critical-thinking skills to clinical decision-making and diagnostic reasoning for prioritizing care and demonstrating communication skills to impact patient outcomes physically, psychosocially, spiritually, cognitively and developmentally. Students are required to complete 629 clinical hours.
Our AGNP track promotes quality outcomes to facilitate health promotion, protection and disease prevention. This concentration will help students develop the necessary knowledge and skills to provide chronic primary and acute primary health care and to integrate evidence-based nursing theories with health assessment and diagnostic reasoning of chronic and acute primary health care problems. Students are required to complete 545 Clinical hours.
Our PMHNP track will help students acquire skills in completing comprehensive mental health assessments, as well as individual, family and group psychotherapy to treat patients properly. Thorough assessment will help students develop competence in prescribing and monitoring medications used in the treatment of disorders across the lifespan. Students are required to complete 545 clinical hours.
The benefits of being a preceptor
Many nurses become preceptors for the rewards of sharing their expertise and knowledge and for the satisfaction of seeing nurses develop professionally. Wilkes students are experienced, committed and quality professionals you can trust to provide exceptional care for your patients.
Other benefits of precepting include:
- Teaching new students is your opportunity to pay forward the dedication of your own preceptor.
- Teaching reinforces and strengthens your own knowledge.
- Students are taught the most up-to-date clinical best practices, so sharing knowledge when precepting is often a two-way street.
Precepting is your opportunity to shape a new generation of nurses, influence real change in health care and give back to the profession.
Contact Us
Your support of our students and programs is greatly appreciated. If you or someone you know may be interested in precepting, please contact: info@placement.keypathedu.com
Preceptor FAQs
A preceptor is an experienced licensed practitioner who provides professional instruction and supervision during clinical practice and facilitates the application of theory to practice for nursing students.
- Unencumbered license to practice medicine in the state where the preceptorship will take place
- Engaged in an active practice directly affiliated with the rotation
- Committed to providing quality patient encounters
- Unencumbered license to practice as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) in the state of practice
- Eligible to practice in an advanced practice role as deemed appropriate by the state’s Board of Nursing
- Board-certified as a nurse practitioner or APRN
- Functioning as an advanced practice nurse in a primary care or approved specialty practice setting
- Committed to providing quality patient encounters
- Registered Nurse (BSN or MSN) and licensed in the state precepting
- Minimum of 2 years work experience as a licensed RN, depending on state precepting
- Holds a current CPR card
- Carries professional liability insurance either from their employer or on their own
- Bridges the gap between theory and actual practice
- Orients student to practice setting, organizational policies and key personnel
- Orients student to institutional policies
- Assists student in planning clinical assignments based on course objectives and student articulated learning needs
- Provides supervision of student on a one-to-one clinical basis until such time as student and preceptor deem direct supervision is no longer necessary
- Provides daily feedback to student
- Reviews all student documentation in clinical records and co-signs same
- Submits a Student Evaluation Form to clinical faculty of the practice experience, as requested
- Serves as a role model to the nurse practitioner student
- Maintains an open line of communication with the student’s clinical advisor
- Be available to discuss the clinical program requirements and objectives with the preceptor
- Assess the adequacy of space and appropriateness of clients for the student’s learning objectives and clinical experiences
- Communicates with preceptor regarding the student’s conduct and progress
- Schedules on-site visits when deemed necessary by the faculty, student or preceptor
- Reviews goals/objectives for fulfilling clinical requirements
- Provides the preceptor with written objectives and evaluation forms for the clinical experience
- Provides proof of nursing license, immunization status and any other documentation required by the clinical site, as necessary
- Reviews existing agency protocols with preceptor
- Documents all clinical encounters in the respective health records using a SOAP format (All entries must be co-signed by the preceptor.)
- Arrives at designated site on time and dressed professionally
Each course has associated clinical course objectives to help guide you and the students during the preceptorship. The course objectives are outlined in the Preceptor Guide.
- Preceptors have opportunities for immediate feedback as well as a more formal assessment of student performance in the form of evaluations.
Students must complete annual physical exams, background checks, immunization verifications, drug screenings, as well as OSHA and HIPAA trainings.
There are no requirements for the frequency of preceptorship; many preceptors take students intermittently. We are grateful for the value you provide in each preceptorship.
The time commitment varies by program and by rotation.
