Cultivating Evaluation Skills in Nurse Preceptors: A Pilot Study

Unprecedented levels of change in both health and higher education have created a powerful context of reform for nurse education. Research has lately focused on educating nurse preceptors who are the primary trainers for student nurses in the clinical environment. The objective of this application focusses on the priority of developing a pilot preceptor workshop for educating hospital staff nurses who serve as nursing preceptor, with an emphasis on teaching preceptors the art of evaluating student nurses’ clinical performance. Educating nurse preceptors is necessary to shape the experimental training of undergraduate nursing students to be better prepared upon graduation and retention in the nursing profession. Because of the nursing and faculty shortage in Oklahoma, a research grant to develop and implement a pilot preceptor workshop is needed to influence the quality and quantity of clinical education.

Budget Proposal

To expand preceptor workshops to better meet workforce demands, nursing education must offer more educational opportunities to reach targeted audiences who will benefit from these educational opportunities. The budget is a crucial component of a grant proposal and serves as a blueprint for spending the project’s funds. A transparent budget proposal will provide reviewers with an in-depth picture of how the project will be structured and managed as well as to provide information about activities planned and personnel who will serve on the project.

According to the literature instructor rank salaries, including annual merit raises, were a major component of the budget and an omission in considering escalating fringe benefit costs and merit increases for faculty could prove detrimental to the entire program. Therefore, annual merit raises and fringe benefits will be considered in the creation of the proposal budget. Another consideration will be determining how much it will cost to employ the people needed for the project to contact the sponsored-projects office on your campus. The sponsored-projects office will assist in determining the compensation of, say, a computer technician with basic skills. Compensation includes salary and fringe benefits. The sponsored-projects office can help to calculate the cost of benefits as a percentage of salary. When it is determined the hour’s team members will work and what they will be paid, the cost of each employee can then be calculated. Often required with the budget is a narrative justifying budgeted items.

Budget Narrative

Personnel

The personnel category refers to the salary and fringe benefit support that is requested for each member of the team. According to the evidence, the project team usually includes key individuals such as the principal investigator, co-investigator, and project director as well as support personnel such as interviewees, research assistants, consultants, and secretaries. The literature suggests listing key personnel by name, identifying their roles, and listing current employees of the institution or those whom it is known will be hired to be on the grant. The consultants in this proposal are not employed by the university but will be hired to carry out discrete activities on the project. Because the consultant is outside the institution their fee will need to be negotiated and reported in the no salary section of the budget.

Ms. W, the principal investigator, provides the leadership and direction for the implementation and evaluation of the preceptor workshop. The University will exempt her at 40% effort with a base salary of $18,000 and fringe benefits of $4,500 for a total cost of $22,500.

Assistant Director V, a Ph.D. holding professor, provides the leadership and direction for the implementation and evaluation of the workshop. She serves as the major coordinator of the preceptor workshop and is a primary faculty member in the evidence-based nursing course. She was the top choice for this project given her 20 years of experience in managing the oversight of grants (Amerson, 2015). The University will exempt her at 100% effort with a base salary of $10,000 and fringe benefits of $2,500 for a total cost of $12,500. Ms. V will be re-assigned to the grant for 100% of her effort.

Mr. C, a highly recommended research associate, will be responsible for the educational component within the grant. We are requesting $13,200 for his salary and fringe benefits of $3,300 for a total cost of $16,500. Mr. C. will be assigned to the grant process for 50% of his time.

Ms. S has agreed to serve as a consultant to the project. She has extensive expertise in the nurse preceptor education field. She is a well-known strategic adviser and a leader in eligibility and feasibility discussion. On past grant projects she interfaced with the entire project finance team as an integral team member. We expect her to advise us at various times throughout the project. We are requesting $6,500 for her service which includes fees and travel.

We are asking for one secretary, Ms. M, with over 10 years of secretarial experience to handle the secretarial tasks associated with teaching the preceptor workshop. We are requesting $10,200 for her salary and fringe benefits of $2,500 for a total cost of $12,700. Ms. M will be assigned to the grant for 100% of her effort.

Teaching Supplies

Items costing over $500 with a usable life of two or more years will be reported in this area. Supplies of less than $1000 do not need to be itemized in the budget. Teaching supplies in the amount of $2000, office supplies in the amount of $2,700, and evaluation costs in the amount of $1,500 are expenses for this 12-month grant.

Travel

Travel costs can be included in the budget if the activities are part of the project. Examples include fieldwork, attendance at academic meetings, parking fees, tolls, airfares, hotel accommodation, fees for professional conferences, meetings, and training programs. It is wise to contact the sponsored-projects office for information on relevant travel policies. We are requesting travel funds in the amount of $2,000 for professional meetings and conferences in order to share the results of the study with other health professionals. We find that meeting with other faculty members involved with preceptor education is beneficial to program development and evaluation. We believe that these meetings will afford us the opportunity for professional growth which is essential for a productive and creative faculty.

Budget Summary

Categories Total Costs Grant Funds Requested
Personnel:

Annual Salary

Fringe Benefits

 

$52, 765

$10,896

$63,661
Travel $3,681 $3,681
Equipment Supplied by School Supplied by School
Supplies $3,796 $3,796
Consultants:

Consultant Fee

Travel Expenses

 

$9,187

$2,444

$11631
Other $10, 500 $10,500
Overall Total $93,269 $93,269

 Project Description and Timeline

Spring/Summer 2016-Introduction/Organization Finalize research procedures

Obtain IRB approval at all sites

 

Fall 2016- Data Collection Recruit subjects and implement study with nurse preceptors

 

Fall 2016/Spring 2017_analysis Analyze and interpret data

 

Summer 2017-Dissemination Disseminate results (publications, presentations, ect.)

 

Nurse Education Today will be the journal of choice to publish this pilot project because this journal is among the most popular nursing journal publications. Additionally, Nurse Education Today has an impact factor of 1.389; the highest among other top performing journals such as the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, Journal of Nursing Education, Journal of Professional Nursing, and Nurse Educator.

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