The Correlation between Satisfaction with Nursing Orientation and the Number of Preceptors Utilized

The satisfaction of new graduate nurses with hospital orientation may impact job satisfaction, retention, and the ability of healthcare facilities to develop proficient nurses. Preceptors are an integral part of nursing orientation and the use of one or multiple preceptors during new graduate nurse orientation is discussed in previous research studies with varying results. Some study participants value using a minimal number of preceptors, while other new graduate nurses enjoy the variety of having multiple preceptors. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the effect of orienting with one or multiple preceptors on the degree of satisfaction with the orientation process. A convenience sample of 30 new graduate nurses employed at a 247 bed, nonprofit hospital was asked to complete one section of the Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey at the completion of 12 weeks of new graduate nurse orientation. The section of the survey used measured support, organization, stress, communication, and satisfaction at the end of 12 weeks. There was a moderate inverse relationship between the number of preceptors utilized during orientation and the support and satisfaction subcategories. The correlation coefficient for the support subcategory was -0.30 and for the satisfaction subcategory the coefficient was -0.32 with a p value of \u3c .05 for both subcategories. This thesis did show that there were components of new graduate nursing orientation that were impacted by the number of preceptors utilized during orientation by new graduate nurses