Guiding students through reflective practice – The preceptors experiences. A qualitative descriptive study

SummaryBackgroundNurse Education in Ireland has experienced a significant change over the last 10 years. As a consequence staff nurses must be prepared to support student learning and enable student learners obtain an optimum educational outcome, thereby enriching the students’ clinical placement. ‘Reflective time’ has been included in the rostered year to enhance the consolidation of theory and practice. The nurse preceptor can facilitate students to reflect on their practice through guided reflection. This study presents the experiences of seven preceptors towards guiding student nurses through reflective practice in the clinical practice area.MethodologyA qualitative descriptive research methodology was chosen to research this phenomenon. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with a purposive sample of seven student nurse preceptors. All the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Burnard’s [Burnard, P., 1991. A method of analysing interview transcripts in qualitative research. Nurse Education Today, 11(6), 461–466] 14-stage method of thematic analysis.ResultsAnalysis of the data revealed that preceptors had little or no experience of using guided reflection within the preceptorship process. Factors, which contributed to these findings included the training and development of preceptors, the critical relationships within the preceptorship process, and the preceptors’ experiences of reflection in the past and present, not withstanding the anticipated future benefits of using guided reflection to aid student learning.ConclusionGuided reflection is a relatively new concept in Irish nursing with this study generating data on seven preceptors’ experiences of using guided reflection in the preceptorship process. The study caused the participants to deeply reflect on their own knowledge and understanding of guided reflection and how guided reflection has the potential to facilitate the development and maintenance of the student nurse/preceptor relationship.