Evaluating the preceptor role for pre-registration nursing and midwifery student clinical education.

Aim: The aim of this research is to evaluate the perceptions of the Registered Nurse (RN), Registered Midwife (RM) and Enrolled Nurse (EN) about their experience of preceptoring an undergraduate student within a large Local Health District in New South Wales (NSW) Australia.

Background: In the current Health Workforce Australia (HWA) literature, the term 'Clinical Supervisor' has subsumed the role of mentor, preceptor, buddy and facilitator of clinical practice. Preceptor in this paper describes the supervisory, facilitating and teaching role of the registered nurse in the clinical practice undergraduate nursing and midwifery educational pairing.