Assuming that you are beyond the novice stage of skill acquisition, consider a time when you again became a novice. For example, you may believe yourself to be an expert in orthopedic nursing, but one day you are asked to float to a new unit where you are unfamiliar with the routines of that unit and the particular assessments and medications common to those types of patients. Part 1 How did you use your more advanced practices to step back into that novice nurse role? Did you have a preceptor assigned to you? What resources did you use? Part 2 If you are a preceptor to a novice nurse, how can you be effective in sharing your experience without being intimidating? What makes an ideal preceptor?
