What Is a Nurse Preceptor? Role and Responsibilities

What is a nurse preceptor? A nurse preceptor is an experienced registered nurse who teaches and supervises a new nurse or a nursing student one-on-one while they care for patients together. The learner is called the preceptee. The preceptor shares their patient assignment with the preceptee and hands over more of the work as the preceptee’s skills and confidence grow.

Hospitals pair preceptors with newly graduated nurses during orientation, and with experienced nurses who are new to the hospital or moving to a different specialty. Nursing schools also place students with staff nurses for clinical courses.

TL;DR

• A nurse preceptor is an experienced RN who trains a new nurse or nursing student one-on-one during patient care.
• The preceptor role in nursing combines teacher, role model, protector, guide to the unit and evaluator.
• Requirements vary by employer and state, and can include a current RN license, experience and a preceptor course.
• To become a preceptor, tell your nurse manager you’re interested and complete your hospital’s preceptor training.
• NP preceptors can be nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants or other licensed clinicians.

What is a nurse preceptor’s role?

A nurse preceptor helps a colleague or student make a transition: from school to practice, from one hospital to another, or from one specialty to the next. The Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD) defines a preceptor as someone with “demonstrated competence in a specific area who guides, assesses, and validates the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to transition to a new role, specialty, or environment in the healthcare setting.” Our guide to what a preceptor is explains the term across healthcare.

ANPD’s national study of preceptor practice confirmed seven parts of the nurse preceptor role. Here’s what each one looks like when you precept:

• Role model. Your preceptee watches how you practice and learns what a competent, professional nurse looks like.
• Teacher and coach. You build their knowledge and skills, starting from their strengths and learning needs.
• Facilitator. You look for good learning experiences, such as going with a patient to a procedure.
• Protector. You keep your preceptee and your patients safe, and you step in during care when safety requires it.
• Socialization agent. As their guide to the unit, you introduce them to the team and explain its unwritten rules.
• Leader. You set an example of professional values and good teamwork.
• Evaluator. Throughout the preceptorship, you assess their performance and give regular feedback.

What is a nurse preceptor responsible for?

A nurse preceptor is responsible for safe patient care and for their preceptee’s steady progress. Your employer or nursing program sets the details, and nurse preceptor responsibilities include:

• Sharing a patient assignment. You and your preceptee care for the same patients, and you add to their workload as they show they’re ready.
• Thinking out loud. Explain your reasoning as you assess patients and make decisions, so your preceptee learns how you think, not just what you do.
• Checking competencies. Confirm that your preceptee performs each required skill correctly before they do it on their own.
• Giving feedback. Debrief after a shift or a hard situation, and keep your feedback timely, specific and constructive.
• Documenting progress. Complete written evaluations and keep the nurse educator or manager informed.

What does a preceptor do on a typical shift?

Early on, your preceptee watches and helps with parts of your patients’ care. As they show they’re ready, you hand over more patients and tasks, stay close by and check their work. By the end of the preceptorship, they manage the full assignment while you stay available for questions.

Working this closely makes a difference. In the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s Transition to Practice study, new nurses whose preceptor worked one-on-one with them, shared their assignments and worked many of the same shifts received significantly higher competence ratings from their preceptors. They also left their jobs at a significantly lower rate than new nurses who shared a preceptor.

What is a nurse preceptor in nursing school?

In nursing school, a nurse preceptor is a staff RN at the clinical site who teaches and supervises a student one-on-one, while the school’s faculty stay responsible for the course. Under California’s preceptorship rule, for example, the preceptorship comes at the end of the nursing program, and the preceptor must be on the unit the entire time the student gives care. A faculty member remains available, meets with both of them at the site and completes the final evaluation with the preceptor’s input.

How is a nurse preceptor different from a charge nurse, clinical instructor or mentor?

A preceptor teaches a new nurse or student one-on-one during patient care. The other three roles support nurses in different ways.

• Charge nurse: Runs the unit for a shift. The American Nurses Association says charge nurses oversee their unit’s operations, from staffing plans to shift handoffs, sometimes along with their own patients.
• Clinical instructor: A nursing school faculty member who oversees students’ clinical education. At the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, a clinical instructor may supervise several students at one or more sites.
• Mentor: An experienced colleague who supports a less experienced nurse’s professional and personal growth. Mentorships are voluntary and ongoing, while a preceptorship is arranged in advance and lasts for a set period, such as orientation.

A preceptor can become a mentor once the preceptorship ends. Our article on preceptor vs mentor roles explains how to build that relationship.

What qualifications does a nurse preceptor need?

Each hospital and nursing program sets its own criteria, and some states add rules for precepting nursing students. Requirements can include:

• A current RN license. California requires preceptors for nursing students to hold “an active, clear license” from its board.
• Experience. California also requires at least a year with the employer. Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in New Jersey recommends a year of experience in its 2021 nurses’ union agreement.
• Clinical competence. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing defines a preceptor as “a competent nurse who has received formal training for the preceptorship role.”
• Preceptor training. California requires a preceptor orientation before you precept a student, and Englewood requires nurses to complete its preceptor course.

Personal qualities count too. ANPD recommends choosing preceptors who are nonjudgmental, authentic, positive, encouraging and respectful, and who listen actively and communicate well.

What does preceptor training cover?

Preceptor training prepares you to teach. ANPD created its preceptor competencies to guide that training, and they include applying principles of adult learning, setting learning outcomes for your preceptee, giving constructive feedback and managing difficult conversations. Some programs also teach quick methods for busy shifts, such as the One Minute Preceptor model in the University of Arkansas’s online nurse preceptor training.

ANPD reports that many healthcare staff serve as preceptors without preparation for the role, so ask your educator what training your hospital offers.

How do you become a nurse preceptor?

Gain experience on your unit, let your manager know you’d like to precept and complete the preceptor training your hospital requires.

1. Build your experience. Become confident in your own practice, and check how much experience your hospital asks for.
2. Tell your nurse manager or educator. They plan orientation for new hires, so they need to know you’d like to precept.
3. Complete preceptor training. Take your hospital’s preceptor course, or a nursing school’s orientation before you precept its students.
4. Start with one preceptee. Focus on one new nurse or student at a time, and ask your educator for support.

Precepting can also lead to a bigger teaching role. ANPD notes that serving as a preceptor is often an entry into nursing professional development, a specialty with its own certification.

How is an NP preceptor different from a nurse preceptor?

An NP preceptor supervises a nurse practitioner student’s clinical rotation, and the preceptor can be a nurse or another kind of clinician. The 2022 national standards for NP education name nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives and social workers, among other healthcare providers. To learn more, read our articles on what a clinical preceptor is in NP education and NP preceptor requirements.

If you’re a nurse practitioner, precepting is a great way to share your expertise. As a Clinical Match Me preceptor, you’ll earn $1,000+ per rotation, and we pay your honorarium when your student starts their rotation. Read how to be a good preceptor for NP students, or become a preceptor with us and choose the students you precept.

Common nurse preceptor questions

Do nursing preceptors get paid?

Hospital preceptors do their precepting during regular paid shifts, and some hospitals also pay a preceptor differential, an extra hourly amount for that time. Englewood’s 2021 agreement, for example, pays a differential “for every assigned hour spent precepting.”

Is being a preceptor worth it?

It can be. Answering a preceptee’s questions can reaffirm your own knowledge and renew your energy for nursing. If you hold an ANCC certification, at least 120 hours of precepting in your specialty can also count toward renewal. ANCC’s current handbook accepts hours with students in an academic program or in a formal residency, fellowship or internship. From February 1, 2027, ANCC also counts time spent onboarding a nurse.

How long does a nurse preceptorship last?

A hospital preceptorship usually lasts as long as your orientation, and your hospital sets that length. NCSBN’s study linked better outcomes for new graduates to transition programs that lasted 9 to 12 months and included a preceptorship.

How do NP students find a preceptor?

If you’re an NP student, Clinical Match Me can connect you with a nurse practitioner preceptor in your specialty. We’re a preceptor placement service for NP and PA students, and our founder is a nurse practitioner who struggled to find a preceptor as a student. Since 2014, we’ve helped more than 10,000 students find preceptors in all 50 states.

Submit your placement requests and receive offers from preceptors who match your profile. Then compare offers, choose the best preceptor for your schedule and learning goals, and start your rotation. Many students receive their first preceptor offer within 24 hours of registering.

Free to join and no credit card required. Pay nothing until you accept an offer. Sign up free and start receiving offers from preceptors who meet your requirements.