Certain nursing skills just cannot be learned from books, lectures or even simulations. The ability to build rapport with patients and families is one of them, and it is essential. A good relationship between a nurse and their patient can help a patient heal more quickly, stick to their treatment and recovery regimen, and follow up when they need to. Nurses also need to be ready for the unexpected and flexible enough to respond to patients’ immediate needs. They must communicate effectively with patients, physicians and other staff, and they need to understand how things work in their hospital or clinic setting. To gain these skills, new nurses need to work with patients under the guidance of a seasoned professional.
Clinical preceptors are an extension of the clinical faculty of an academic program. Preceptors teach students or newly graduated nurses right in the clinical environment, working directly with patients and health care staff. They facilitate and enable clinical skill acquisition for the respective nursing role (RN or APRN) during real patient experiences. As the nursing moves to competency-based educational standards, preceptors can significantly support students’ clinical skill acquisition in real time and significantly aid in learning experiences.
The nurses, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, nursing administrators and leaders who are currently precepting LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing undergraduate, nurse anesthesia, nurse practitioner and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students are passionate about sharing their knowledge and experience with new nurses and helping to forge those essential connections with patients. Here are a few of their stories:
Paige Kastner (BSN ’19), RN, BSN
Children’s Hospital New Orleans
Preceptor for Undergraduate Students
“Being a new nurse, I could have never imagined myself precepting students. Sometimes I thought I should still be precepted, but the opportunity presented itself to me and I thought, why not?!” Kastner says. “After a year of precepting students, I actually also began precepting new grads on my unit, and I couldn’t love it more!”
Kastner has been working with undergraduate School of Nursing students at Children’s Hospital New Orleans every semester since fall 2021.
She says precepting is a great opportunity for new nurses to gain real-life nursing experience and incorporate everything they have learned at school into practice.
“When you start your nursing career, there is so much new information to learn. Helping students or new nurses learn how to chart, care for not only the patient but also the family, manage their time and work with their peers helps prepare them early on,” Kastner says. “Learning from a patient is completely different than learning from a textbook. And what I hope for my students is that they always take the time to truly get to know their patients. Nursing can be stressful and time-consuming, but the best part is talking with your patients and families. That relationship can make all the difference!”
She reflects on caring for one particular patient, a 1-year-old girl who relied completely on medical devices and caregivers after being in a terrible accident, but who lived life to the fullest anyway and wrapped the hospital staff around her fingers.
“Caring for her was one of the best experiences I will ever have as a nurse. That little girl changed me before she passed away, and I will forever be grateful to her for that,” she says.
Kastner encourages her fellow nurses to take on clinical teaching roles.
“Someone stepped up to the plate, took you under their wing and showed you the ropes. Now it’s your turn!” she says.
Jared Norris (BSN ’15), BSN, CRRN
Nursing Administration Supervisor
West Jefferson Medical Center
Preceptor for Undergraduate Students
Like Kastner, Norris was also unsure whether he would make a good preceptor or what exactly he could offer students. But after formally precepting for two years at West Jefferson Medical Center (WJMC) and three additional years informally teaching students through rounds at the WJMC Rehabilitation Unit, he has changed his mind.
“You don’t realize how much you get out of it until you do it,” Norris says. “If you ever asked me before I started if I wanted to precept or if I was a good candidate, I would’ve told you no. Once you start, you realize how much knowledge you can share and how much that knowledge sharing is appreciated by that student.”
Norris originally connected with Helen Neil, RN, MSN – HCSM, CLNC, FCN, Instructor of Clinical Nursing, when he was director of the Rehabilitation Unit and she sent her students for rounds. When Norris became nursing administration supervisor at WJMC, Neil asked if he would precept some students, and he has not looked back.
“I hope that they get a sense of how fun it can be to become a nurse. I try to introduce them to nurses in all the different departments and talk about different kinds of experiences you can have,” Norris says. “Nursing gives you the opportunity to bring babies into the world and fix their boo-boos, code a patient and then save their life, help get a patient a new hip, be at their side while they receive chemo or hold their hand as they take their last breath – and everything in between.”
In his role, Norris focuses on rounding but must always also be ready for emergencies that pop up unexpectedly, something his background in emergency nursing prepared him for.
“I like to talk through most of the emergent/urgent clinical situations in theory, like code blues, rapids or stroke activations. We do, at times, get experiences where we get to participate in them,” Norris says. “If we do, I will talk them through what is going on at each step or have a debriefing with them after to go over it.”
Norris also likes to share with students how a hospital functions from a business perspective, so they can better understand how decisions are made or how and why policies are written or modified. He enjoys seeing his students’ shock when he gets “sucked into a 10+ phone-calls-in-a-row vortex” and laughter at the sign on his desk that reads, “Chaos Coordinator.”
The most important part of precepting, though, is that “real patients stick with you in learning experiences.”
“Whether you are saving a life by doing chest compressions or watching a nurse administer adenosine or synchronized cardiovert to get a patient out of an SVT rhythm, I just think it sticks better in the brain,” Norris says. “In the classroom, I always connected more with professors who had great stories to tell. It’s those stories and experiences that really help nurses connect the dots.”
Kyle Schnebelen (MSN Anesthesia ’04), CRNA
Baton Rouge General Hospital
Preceptor for Nurse Anesthesia Students
Having precepted nurse anesthesia students since 2005, Schnebelen says his joy “simply comes from watching students perform their first anything, such as a spinal, epidural, central line or arterial line.”
“My method of teaching involves discussing the case with the student as much as I can before our arrival to the OR – as my preference is to not teach in front of an awake patient – and then to implement the plan in the OR,” he says. “It is 100% essential for nurse anesthesia students to be prepared prior to actual hands-on patient care. It is essential that the students also have a backup plan as well and we discuss having all necessary equipment and medications available.”
Schnebelen says precepting students is the right thing to do for the nursing profession.
While he says his professional role does not change much day to day, though his caseload varies widely, Schnebelen’s preceptor role changes with the arrival of new students as he tries to best meet their needs and capabilities.
“I hope students at my clinical site see how enjoyable your work environment can be as you become more familiar with your coworkers, OR staff and physicians,” he says. “Job satisfaction is higher when there is good teamwork. I also like to make sure students understand the billing and business aspects of anesthesia care so that they understand their value.”
Monique D. Barconey, MPH, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
Paisley Family Medical Center
Preceptor for Nurse Practitioner Students
Competence, confidence, empathy and a hunger for providing great, compassionate care: Those are the attributes of a great nurse, says Barconey, who has precepted nurse practitioner (NP) students since 2006.
After earning her MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Loyola New Orleans, Barconey served as a clinical coordinator at the state health clinic, where she was introduced to advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who were working there.
“They introduced me to this profession and encouraged me to follow in their footsteps,” Barconey says. “I did not have a nursing background at that time. I was so intrigued and impressed, I’ve never looked back.”
As a preceptor, Barconey hopes to pass along some of that same inspiration to her students.
“Being a preceptor is sharing your expertise and experience to help enrich the education of those following you, to shape the future of our profession,” she says. “I feel it’s a responsibility to help nourish the new generation of providers. It’s also fun to see students make the connection between didactic instruction and clinical experiences.”
Barconey and her students frequently discuss options and scenarios during and after patient interactions. She also provides her students with mini case studies to stimulate discussion about treatment plans and outcomes. Experiences like these help future NPs exercise the skills they have learned in the classroom – translating them to practice and gaining a variety of experiences before they launch their careers.
“Some of my most meaningful experiences have been seeing students gain confidence in their decision-making, make appropriate links to similar situations and see the direct effects of their actions on patient outcomes,” she says.
Joe Eppling (DNP ’18), DNP, RN, NEA-BC
Associate CNO/AVP Nursing Services
University Medical Center New Orleans
Preceptor for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Students, Master’s and Undergraduate Students
This is Dr. Eppling’s first year serving as a preceptor for a DNP student, though he has precepted many other undergraduate and master’s students over the years.
“As a recent graduate from the School of Nursing with my DNP, I realized all the time and support others provided to me while in school, and I wanted to help support other nurses pursuing their DNP,” he says.
Dr. Eppling also enjoys teaching and – as a nurse leader – he thinks it is of the utmost importance that nurses know and understand that their leadership is working hard every day to improve their workplace, get involved in policy development and support their fellow nurses.
“As a younger nurse, I did not understand or have any concept of what my nurse manager was doing,” Dr. Eppling says. “For a nurse leader, every day is different. Priorities change from day to day, and sometimes hour by hour. What’s great about it is the ability to support frontline nurses, enabling them to provide the best care possible to our patients.”
Dr. Eppling hopes the students he precepts leave the experience with a belief that they can impact nursing and improve patient care. He also wants students to understand that as professional nurses, they have a voice and should get involved, for example by joining a committee, attending conferences and participating in nursing associations.
He says while being a preceptor is hard work, it is also very rewarding.
“It does take a commitment from both the preceptor and learner to plan ahead, have open and honest communication, and, most of all, be flexible,” Dr. Eppling says. “I feel that supporting our future health care providers is necessary and our obligation as professionals. As a lifelong learner, I also continue to learn along the student’s journey.”
Having an opportunity to experience, observe and participate in direct patient care and interact with the multidisciplinary team is vital to a nurse’s preparation, he adds.
“I enjoy when students have that sparkle in their eyes. They have a realization of the true impact of nursing and what specifically they can do to improve patient care and outcomes.”
