In a bid to enhance overall competence of newly qualified nurses, Gulf Medical University’s College of Nursing has begun a Preceptorship Development Program spread across eight weeks from 16th September 2022 to 12th November 2022 on Fridays and Saturdays for 250 nurses from Emirates Health Services and Thumbay Hospitals. The training, which is being held at Gulf Medical University, aims to equip senior nurses to hand-hold and guide newly qualified graduate nurses and students as they learn to practice their profession in the clinical areas.
The program will host several celebratory and commemorative events like case scenario exercises, reflections, games, quizzes and brain-storming activity to celebrate professionalism, innovation, and resilience of nurses, thus, boosting overall interaction among participants. In the form of presentations, discussions, videos and exercises, the event will further highlight and showcase the interprofessional team work of Gulf Medical University’s College of Nursing, with all the disciplines in the University; underscoring the importance and prominence of their roles in health care. A pre-test will be conducted on the first day of the program, followed by a test on the tenth day of the training and finally at the completion of six months to gauge the growth in knowledge, competency and perception among the participants.
Speaking about the significance of this program, Professor Selva Titus Chacko, Dean, College of Nursing, said: “In the long run, the impact of this program will be seen in both the preceptors and preceptees; wherein their competencies will improve and thus enhance the overall quality of patient care. We are grateful to the Training and Development Centre and Nursing Department of Emirates Health Services for providing us the opportunity to contribute in the learning and growth of the nursing profession in UAE. Going forward, too, our campus aims to become a training center for preceptors in the upcoming years.”
On September 16th, the first cohort of training commenced with fourteen sessions, highlighting topics such as roles of preceptor and preceptee; confidence, self-awareness and motivation, effective communication, conflict resolution, problem solving, time management, controlling anxiety, team work, integrating prior learning, critical thinking, evidence-based practice, principles of adult learning, assessing competencies, reflective practice, constructive feedback and evaluation. A feedback was later taken from the participants, who positively expressed that the workshop was helpful in molding them in the role of preceptors, which they will adapt in their practice.
All the sessions, meanwhile, will be conducted by the College of Nursing faculty, Group chief nursing officer, Thumbay Health Divisions, and faculty from other Colleges of Gulf Medical University, e.g. College of Medicine, College of Dentistry and College of Pharmacy, thus addressing inputs from senior faculty and boosting collaboration for inter-professional education. In addition, a collaborative research has also been initiated by the College of Nursing at Gulf Medical University with the Nursing Department of Emirates Health Services, to evaluate the effectiveness of the Preceptorship Training Program which will aid in refining the program for future training.
