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Home / Healthcare & Medicine / Pharmacy / Become a Pharmacy Preceptor / Steps to become a super preceptor: part 3.

Steps to become a super preceptor: part 3.

Step 5. Create a self-sustaining structural framework. Step 6. Inspire a Desire to learn & Grow.
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The fifth step in becoming becoming a super preceptor is to create a self-sustaining structural framework. See, structure built stability and consistency into a training a program. It also increases efficiency and productivity for both the preceptor and the student. It makes life a lot easier. What do I mean by creating structural framework? First of all, a rotation should be based on a very detailed schedule. If the preceptor plans out exactly what the students should be doing. What kind of activities the student will be engaged in? Every day throughout those four weeks of the rotation. It’s mapped out in a schedule that can be provided to the students on the very first day.
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Student then follow the schedule and the preceptor doesn’t have to worry about planning during the rotation. Preceptors have done that planning up front. It was exactly what the student needs to be doing on any given day. It’s a good planning process. It provides organization and consistency for both the preceptor and students. The second aspect of structural framework is provide documentation forms. Soon it is going to be engaged in a variety of activities that the preceptor needs to monitor and evaluate. If those forms provide documentation with the student is doing. If they are monitoring patients, there might be a monitoring form. If they’re going to intervene in out of patients, there might be an intervention form, which documents what they’re doing.
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It makes it easier for the preceptor to simply viewing these forms and get a very specific, very clear idea of what the students been doing within the rotation. It also provides the students with a way of communicating very detailed fashion what he or she is doing its part of their training program to the preceptor. Lastly there should be very consistent, very detailed grading forms. This does two things, having grading forms, rubrics, or checklists, that are completed for the students assignments and activities. This does two things. First, it provides the student with guidance. It’s how they’re going to be evaluated for each of their activities. They can use these forms when they’re preparing for the activities.
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Or when they’re engaged in the activity. To keep them on track so they know exactly what the expectations are, in turns of upgrading of the preceptor. These forms also provide the preceptor with objective guidance when the students being evaluated. So there’s more consistency and fairness and objectivity in the grading. The sixth and final step to becoming a super preceptor is to inspire a desire to learn and grow. There’s an old saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. The corollary to that, pharmacy education be you can lead a student to their training site but you can’t make them think. You can’t think for the students. You have to motivate the students.
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To inspire the students. To want to engage in critical thinking, engage in the activities in the exercise of rotation. Such that they developed a kind of learning identified in the learning outcomes. William Butler Yeats, an (Irish)
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poet, once said: “Education is not the feeling of a pale, but the lighting of a fire.” The role of the preceptor is not to provide knowledge and to feel the brain of the student of knowledge. It’s to inspire the students. To inspire the student to learn on their own. As we said earlier you cannot transmit information to students. Students have to construct the knowledge themselves through their own critical thinking. They have to be inspired and motivated to engage in that thinking.
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So that when the preceptor developed activities and exercises and assignments for the students to complete, they will do so eagerly and on their own motivated by their own intrinsic desires to succeed within that training program, because they believe that the learning outcomes for that program are worthwhile and worth pursuing. It’s been said that motivation is the driving force behind learning. Susan Ambrose wrote in her book, how learning works seven research space principles for smart teaching. Also as quoted as saying students motivation generates direct and sustained what they do to learn. That’s what determines the level of learning that takes place during rotation.
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It’s the students own motivation and the preceptor has to have strategies for encouraging their motivation and building that motivation. There’s two ways the preceptor can engage students in learning and being motivated to learn. First, it is to help the students appreciate the value of what it is you want them to learn, help them develop a personal interest in the top. There’s a variety of ways to do that. But you have to find strategies that will enable you to connect with the students. So you get across to them the importance of what it is you’re asking them to do. The second aspect of motivating a student to learn is to develop a sense of expectancy.
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What we mean by expectancy, is the student expects to succeed expect to learn. They expect to achieve those learning outcomes that you set. It involves providing them with confidence that they can achieve the outcome. So that the preceptor needs to clearly communicate
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to the student: “I’m with you on this. I’m going to provide you with guidance. I’m going to help you succeed, not to design this rotation to accomplish just that.

Prof. Brown continues explaining the 6 steps in becoming a super preceptor.

Step Five: Create a self-sustaining structural framework.

Creating a detailed schedule of rotation is essential before the rotation begins. Designing documents and grading forms in advance could increase productivity among preceptors. This simplifies and improves the efficiency when evaluating the outcomes of students.

Step Six: Inspire a Desire to learn & Grow.

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This content is taken from
Taipei Medical University online course,

Become a Pharmacy Preceptor

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Part of the learning process is to instil a passion in the student to seek out additional resources and to promote a type of curiosity the fuels their desire to improve. Much like any working environment, those with the competitive edge will get the advantage in the market. Students must have the drive to improve themselves and constantly make sure that they have the knowledge and experience to market themselves as highly valuable in the industry.

In the first activity, Prof. Brown has briefly introduced the 6 steps to become a super preceptor. The detail of these steps will be explain in the following activities. The fundamental knowledge of these steps are not just for pharmacy students, but also be useful for other professional education.

If you have more thoughts on any steps on your context, you are welcome to leave your comments.

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This content is taken from Taipei Medical University online course
Become a Pharmacy Preceptor
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