Career Development of Nursing Preceptors in Iran: A Descriptive Study

Background: The career development of nursing preceptors is key to improving the quality of clinical education. However, there is a lack of sufficient and specific information about the career development of nursing preceptors in Iran. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the nursing preceptors’ career development status. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with the participation of 92 nursing preceptors. Participants were selected by census sampling method from 5 hospitals in Tabriz, Iran. Demographic and 6-dimension career development questionnaires were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 22, and the significance level for all statistical tests was determined to be less than 0.05. Results: Participants received the highest career development on ethical, cultural, and individual dimensions with mean scores of 3.55 ± 0.471, 3.41 ± 0.525, and 3.38 ± 0.540, respectively. However, they obtained the lowest career development on the organizational, research, and educational dimensions with mean scores of 2.68 ± 0.580, 2.28 ± 0.672, and 2.20 ± 0.690, respectively. Moreover, a comparison of career development based on demographic information showed that female preceptors, preceptors with more than 20 years of work experience, preceptors with master’s degrees, and contract employees had the highest mean scores for career development. Conclusions: Given the preceptors’ cooperation with nursing faculty as clinical nursing educators and their role in nursing education, officials of nursing faculties should develop specific career development programs (especially in organizational, research, and educational dimensions) and establish an effective relationship between preceptors and professors to enhance nursing students education.