In the nearly two years that life has drastically adapted to prevent the spread of COVID-19, preceptors have become even more difficult to secure. Whether their site ceases taking students due to increased risk of spread or they lose their own jobs due to the pandemic, practicing physicians, NPs and PAs are no longer as available to teach as they once were.
What does this mean in light of the new COVID Delta variant that is now steadily making its way through the population? Once again, students are finding it ever more difficult to secure someone to teach them for their clinical rotations. Schools are not making it any easier as they continue to impose stringent restrictions on preceptors. Schools often may not even approve some who are realistically qualified and willing to teach.
At Clinical Preceptor Rescue, we search every single day to find preceptors for hard-working students. We do not have a magic list of preceptors waiting in the wings for a call from us with a student in need. For practically every student we take, we put multiple team members on the search for a provider that meets the necessary requirements, who is also able and willing to teach.
Unfortunately at the current moment, we are once again seeing a steady decline of available preceptors across the nation. Sites are reinstating COVID-19 restrictions that prevent advanced practitioner providers from precepting students. Students are having to continually delay their graduation dates due to failure to have their clinical rotations completed. This crisis does not appear to be going away any time soon.
To students in need of preceptors, please give us as much time as possible ahead of your rotation so that our chances of securing a preceptor for you are greater. Our team is incredible at placing students urgently, but in today’s environment, more time is definitely better. In the event you need to delay your rotation, it is extremely helpful if we have two sets of dates that we can give to preceptors in case they are currently booked.
Many of the students we have placed are now precepting for us. We love to pay students back in honorariums when they are practicing for a year or more!
Our team is dedicated and we work extremely hard to place every student. The more time you give us, the fewer sleepless nights we have worrying until we find your preceptor!