Effectiveness of an online program using telesimulation for academic–clinical collaboration in preparing nurse preceptors’ roles

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of an online program on nurse preceptors’ knowledge and self-efficacy in their roles to support students’ clinical education, and to examine their online experience. Background: Professional development of nurse preceptors is paramount to fostering work readiness of future graduate nurses on entering the workforce. The support from academic institutions in developing preceptors’ roles in clinical teaching and assessment is pivotal. Design: This study employed a mixed-methods design. Method: A total of 59 nurse preceptors from six healthcare institutions participated in an online preceptor program by collaborating with academic educators in facilitating student clinical learning and assessment through telesimulation following web-based instruction. Pre-test and post-tests were administered to evaluate the preceptors’ knowledge and self-efficacy in their roles. Survey questionnaires and focus group discussions were conducted to evaluate their online experience. SQUIRE 2.0 guidelines were applied. Results: The preceptors demonstrated significant improvements (p <.001) in knowledge and levels of self-efficacy in their preceptor roles immediately and 1 month after the program. The following four themes emerged from their learning experiences: ‘interactive learning approach’, ‘academic–practice collaboration’, ‘better understanding of clinical assessment tool’ and ‘application of teaching strategies’. The preceptors reported positively on their motivation to learn using the web-based instruction and on their telesimulation experience. Conclusion: The study findings demonstrated effectiveness and feasibility of an online preceptor program to enhance preceptors’ roles in supporting nursing students’ transition to clinical practice, using a mix of web-based technologies to provide preceptors with self-directed and experiential learning approaches. Relevance to clinical practice: This study contributed to the development of an innovative online preceptor program that provided opportunity for academic–clinical collaboration and has broad applicability. The telesimulation created robust remote simulation experiences for preceptors, allowing them to collaborate with academic educators in facilitating students’ clinical practice amid the COVID-19 pandemic.