Preceptorship and the preparatory process for undergraduate nursing students and their preceptors.

The purpose of this article was to research nursing students' and their assigned preceptors' views of preparation in relationship to a 340-hour preceptorship course. Using an author-generated mailed survey, 75 of 191 preceptors and 52 of the 187 students returned questionnaires. The findings revealed just under half of the students and preceptors did not believe that they were well prepared. Twenty-six percent of the preceptors believed they should receive a formal training program. The implications for this research are threefold: students and preceptors have concerns with preparation; a formal preceptorship course for students and preceptors may be warranted; and the evaluation component of the preceptorship experience in particular requires formal preparation, an unexpected finding derived from the open comments of the preceptors themselves.