An effective preceptor should exhibit:
- enthusiastic, open-minded, and professional attitude
- knowledgable regarding: pharmacology, med safety best practises, and how to be efficient with time
- skills: strong communication skills, EBM, stats, and problem solving
As a preceptor it is very important to identify where your learner is with regards to where they fall on the above image. Preceptors can initially get a good understanding of the students foundational skills and knowledge, and once that is established they can then build upon that with regards to practical application and culminating integration.
Other powerful questions include:
- How would you pull all of this together
- What is your game plan
- What are your next steps
- How is this related to that
- Why is this significant
- What would be an entirely different approach
- What impact will this have on the pt or a certain disease state
- What is important about
It is important to provide learners with feedback daily. Do not sandwich feedback. If you have trouble discussing negative feedback with a student make that clear to them and state it is something you are working on.
Arjun's Residency Blog 