Precepting Tips
Giving the Student an Orientation
A good student orientation is
the foundation for a successful preceptorship experience. An
orientation time can be arranged for a time prior to the beginning
of the preceptorship or on the first day of the preceptorship.
The orientation should provide time for the student to spend 15-20
minutes with you, 5-10 minutes to be introduced to your staff, and
5-10 minutes to become familiar with your facility. It is very
important to plan the orientation. Prior to the student's
arrival familiarize yourself with the preceptorship objectives,
review any information about the student that was sent in advance by
FSUCOM. Information about your student can also be found on
the FSUCOM web page at
http://med.fsu.edu/students/default.asp
Giving the Student Increased Responsibilities as the
Preceptorship Progresses
As you become more comfortable with
the students skills and abilities, we encourage you to give the
student more latitude and independence in performing examinations on
patients. Research tells us that many patients appreciate this extra
attention and additionally feel that they are contributing to the
development of future physicians. (However, at this stage pelvic
examinations should always be supervised by you or another
fully-licensed health professional.) Providing graduated learning
opportunities and responsibilities as the student progresses through
the preceptorship will optimize learning for the student and will
hopefully evolve into a situation in which the student is actually a
help to you. We would hope that each student is seeing at least 2-3
patients per session with increasing autonomy in the basic history
and physical exam over time.
Giving Feedback to Your Student
Feedback is defined as "information
a student can use to help him/her toward the accomplish of specific
learning goals."
Characteristics of Effective
Feedback
- Self-assessment opportunity given
(e.g. How do you think you did?)
- Well-timed and expected
- Based on reliable information
(e.g. your direct observation of the student)
- Specific, not general (e.g. Too
General: "That was a good presentation." More Specific:
"Your presentation of that patient was very good. It was
well organized in the SOAP format and each component contained the
essential information."
- Limited amount
- Given in a collaborative
spirit
The ARCH Model of Feedback
- A= Ask for self-assessment (e.g.
How do you think you did?")
- R = Reinforcement provided
- C = Correct things done wrong
- H = Help learner develop
improvement plan
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