Enhancing the effectiveness of nurse preceptors.

More than half of new graduate nurses start their careers in the hospital setting. Once there, they need an orientation that will help them make the transition from student to novice professional. It is just as important for experienced nurses transferring into another unit or hospital to be inculturated into the new work environment. In this study, academic and staff development educators collaborated to create the Nurse Preceptor Academy, a workshop that prepared over 700 nurse preceptors to be more effective in the preceptor role.