The Effectiveness of the Nursing Preceptorship Model at the Intensive Care Unit of Maharat Nakhonratchasima Hospital

Abstract

This is was quasi-experimental research with a single group pre-posttest design. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a nurse preceptorship model in the medical intensive care unit of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima hospital. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants, which consisted of 19 nurse preceptors and 13 newly graduated nurses. The experimental instrument was the Nursing Preceptorship Model at the Intensive Care Unit (the NP model) which was developed by the researcher. Data were collected using an evaluation form to investigate four aspects of the NP model’s effectiveness, including: knowledge, attitude, nursing practice skills, and satisfaction toward the NP model. The content validity of the evaluation form was .80 and the reliability values for the scales related to the four aspects investigated were .84, .90, .94, and .80, respectively. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed rank test. The results revealed that after implementing the NP model, nurse preceptors’ knowledge (Z = -3.84, p < .001), attitude (Z = -3.15, p = .002), and nursing practice skills (Z = -2.99, p = .003) were statistically significantly higher than before. The newly graduated nurses’ knowledge (Z = -3.20, p = .001), attitude (Z = -2.56, p = .011), and nursing practice skills (Z = -3.06, p = .002) were also statistically significantly higher than before as well. Both groups were satisfied the developed NP program at a very good level (M = 4.68, SD = .25). This leads to the conclusion that this NP program can increase the efficiency of nursing and can be used as a guideline for other agencies.