title: Interdisciplinary preceptor teams to improve the clinical nurse leader student experience.
abstract: The Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) role was introduced by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2003 (AACN, 2003). There are now over 2,500 certified CNLs in the United States. Still some areas of the country have no CNLs in practice; this was true of north central Texas until May 2010 when Texas Christian University (TCU) had its first graduating class. Lack of CNLs to serve as preceptors for the practicum courses in the CNL program was one concern, although AACN does offer options when CNLs are not available. TCU's CNL teaching team developed the interdisciplinary preceptor team (IPT) model to strengthen the practicum component of CNL education at TCU. One advantage of the IPT model is the match it provides with several CNL competencies: lateral integration of care via interdisciplinary teams, member and leader of health care teams, skillful communication within teams, and implementation of an interdisciplinary approach to safe, quality, patient care. Components of the IPT model are discussed with specific information about preceptor selection, team development, and examples of feedback from preceptors and students.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor of Nursing, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX.. Electronic address: Penny.moore@tcu.edu.
authors.forename: Penny
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor of Nursing, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX.
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor of Nursing, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX.
authors.forename: Lynnette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Howington
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007857:Leadership; D017145:Models, Educational; D011231:Preceptorship; D011361:Professional Competence; D013338:Students, Nursing; D013781:Texas
keywords: Clinical nurse leader; Interdisciplinary; Preceptor