Does Preceptorship improve confidence and competence in Newly Qualified Nurses: A systematic literature review.

AIM: A systematic literature review to assess whether preceptorship improves confidence and competence in Newly Qualified Nurses.

BACKGROUND: Preceptorship was introduced into nursing in the United Kingdom in 1991 with the original aim to improve competence and confidence. This systematic review was undertaken to review the evidence of the impact of preceptorship on confidence and competence of nurses in their first year post qualifying.

DATA SOURCES: A comprehensive search of The British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Embase, Medline, PsycInfo, PyscArticles, Campbell Collaboration; Cochrane, HMIC, ERIC, ASSIA, Web of Science, Scopus, Scopus Conference, Web of Science Conferences; NHS Evidence, OpenGrey, National Technical, NINR, Opendoar, SSRN, Kings College London and the RCN was conducted.

METHODS: A PRISMA structured systematic review was carried out, 14 papers 4 mixed methods, 8 qualitative, 1 scoping review and 1 service development, published between 1996 and 2013 were critically reviewed, and data extracted using thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Four themes were identified from a thematic analysis: measurement, knowledge and experience, support, and structure.

CONCLUSION: While one-to-one preceptorship does influence confidence and competence, Preceptorship Programmes has greater impact than the individual preceptor. Due to limited empirical research there is no concrete evidence that Preceptorship has a direct impact on confidence or competence. Further research into team preceptorship/choice of preceptors and what impacts on Newly Qualified Nurses confidence and competence is required.