Improving Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Preceptor Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Willingness in a Hospital Medicine Practice: An Online Experience

Background: A hospital medicine practice experienced an increased demand for additional nurse practitioner (NP) and physician assistant (PA) preceptors. Method: An online preceptor education course was developed that included eight modules: communication and feedback, expectations for assessment and evaluation, pedagogy, time management and efficiency, goal setting and coaching, working with struggling or at-risk students, legal and ethical considerations, and teaching procedures. Knowledge, self-efficacy, and willingness to precept were examined in a precourse and postcourse format. Results: Postcourse, knowledge improved from 69.4% to 90.6%. Self-efficacy improved by 35.2%, and willingness to precept also improved. Qualitative themes emerged, including excitement to precept, helpful course, and time constraints. Conclusion: An online NP and PA preceptor training program increased preceptor knowledge, self-efficacy, and willingness to serve as a preceptor. Additional research is needed to explore the time constraints to serving as an NP or a PA preceptor in the inpatient environment.