Preceptor

While the term mentor appeared to be viewed as a personal and informal role, the term preceptor was seen by some participants to be more of a short-term role, and in some ways a role that requires a more formal relationship than that of mentor, as Lisa described:

…a preceptor I think is someone that gets rostered well not even rostered someone that works around you. And it's supposed to be a short-term- as far as I was aware- a short-term relationship. (Lisa)

The majority of participants linked the term preceptor to a teaching or training role, as Roger stated; a preceptor is “someone who has been allocated a teaching role to other staff members”. Conversely, some participants considered the preceptor role to be responsible for the facilitation of the learning experience, where the learner

consolidates concepts learned in the class setting and to guide the learning process, rather than to teach. This brings into question participants’ understanding of what it means to teach, as the concept of teaching would normally incorporate facilitation as a strategy (Hogan, 2005). For example, Terry specifically stated that a preceptor is not there to teach as students should have already acquired many of the knowledge and skills required:

78 To me a preceptor is someone who provides the environment for the

person who is learning, so almost like a facilitation… a student comes to me, I’m not really teaching them a whole lot, they should have already been taught a whole lot. I’m providing them with an

environment in which they can just go out and practice what they’ve been taught. I’m there as a safety net, I’m there to catch, maybe to comment, maybe to guide, not to teach. (Terry)

Others supported the facilitator perception of the preceptor role, suggesting that a preceptor is a guide in the journey of students during clinical placement, in a similar manner to that outlined previously for the mentor. Simon explained that while the paramedic oversees the student, they are there to allow the student the room to learn:

Preceptors, are there to help the student to be the student, to learn, to oversee what's going on and answer questions about stuff, to have the student doing their job and overseeing them to make sure they are doing it right. Not jumping in unless needed. Helping the student do some reflective practice. And to basically work with that person to improve their own clinical ability in an ambulance context. (Simon)

While for Darren the functions of teaching and providing the student with room to move and learn, are not mutually exclusive:

I believe a preceptor is somebody who allows a student to develop in their practice. So it’s partially a teaching role, it’s partially sort of an encouragement or nurturing role, I suppose the end point is that the student has to be allowed to teach themselves enough to change and… develop. So I see it as a facilitator. (Darren)

79 An emerging perspective within the data was that paramedic preceptors are considered the ‘Jack of all trades’ of clinical learning. They were referred to by a number of

participants as having the functions of each of the terms asked in this question, wrapped up together in one. The term preceptor, therefore, was considered an

overarching term that encompasses all of the roles included in the other terms, mentor, instructor and supervisor, all in one, albeit in an appointed capacity for a focused period of time, as Julie and Darren summarised:

In reality, a preceptor has to be all of those things. They have to be a mentor. They have to clinically instruct. They have to clinically supervise. (Julie)

For an organisation the focus is going to be on the clinical practice but the preceptor role itself is about the scene, it’s about body language, it’s about how to feel confident, it’s about how to impart a presence… sometimes… it is about having a shoulder to cry on, like a target for frustration. So yes I think the preceptor role on paper is about the clinical experience but I think that the role of the preceptor is more than just clinical. (Darren)

Whilst the term preceptor was perceived in a variety of ways, what was surprising in the responses was the lack of knowledge of the meaning of the word. Preceptor is used by a number of universities providing students to both states for clinical placement, and is also used within the Tasmanian ambulance service. However, despite this some participants were unable to provide any insight into the term or associated function, either never having heard of preceptor or thought about it:

80 To be honest, I’ve never really thought about what preceptor means. I

use the term because we use it in my workplace. To be honest, I’ve never really thought about what it means (Julie)

I’ve never heard of preceptor until the University started using it… I’ve never really known what it meant (Tony)

In summary, as is the case for the term mentor, the term preceptor was subject to a wide variety of interpretation by some participants or complete ignorance of the term by others. For those who were able to provide their impression of its meaning, their understandings ranged from referring to preceptor as being the same as mentor; to it having a more structured teaching function; or as a term that encapsulates a role that incorporates mentorship, instruction and supervision.