Preceptor RN Ortho

The Orthopedics Unit at Good Samaritan Hospital is a 22-bed unit that cares for a variety of ortho patients and is Joint Commission Certified in total hip and total knee replacements. We provide state of the art orthopedic procedures in Kearney, NE.

Established by the Sisters of the St. Francis in 1924, CHI Health Good Samaritan is a 268-bed regional referral center in Kearney, Nebraska. At CHI Health Good Samaritan, you’ll find an advanced level trauma center that also offers AirCare emergency helicopter transport and an ambulance program providing long distance and local 911 service. Among our many other services are cardiac care including open-heart surgery, a level II neonatal intensive care unit, a nationally accredited cancer center, comprehensive neurosurgery, advanced orthopedic program, and inpatient and outpatient mental health services at our free-standing Richard Young Behavioral Health facility.

The Nurse Preceptor serves as an informal clinical leader and expert, spearheading the onboarding and professional development of new hire nurses and acting as a pivotal resource for the entire healthcare team. Beyond traditional precepting, this role demands a proactive approach to mentoring and guiding not only preceptees, but also fellow preceptors, interim staff, and other unit members. The Preceptor is responsible for delivering comprehensive orientation to unit-specific protocols, technologies, and best practices, while providing advanced clinical supervision and mentorship that elevates the performance of the entire team. This includes modeling exemplary clinical skills, facilitating skill development, and delivering insightful, actionable feedback. The Preceptor ensures the seamless integration of new nurses, fosters a culture of continuous improvement, and ultimately drives exceptional patient care. This position requires a proven history of superior precepting, unwavering commitment to serving as a role model, and a dedication to advancing both personal and team-wide professional growth.

• Consistent availability and dedication to precept NNRP Residents, new RNs to the unit, students, student interns or other roles as needed.
• Maintains consistent communication and collaboration with the leadership, education and NNRP leadership teams regarding the orientee’s progress and performance as applicable.
• Serve as a resource and mentor not only for preceptees but fellow preceptors, interim or float staff, and other members of the healthcare team at all times, not only when precepting an orientee.
• Role models professionalism and role competence at all times to positively influence the orientee and other members of the healthcare team.
• Expands the knowledge, skills and competence of the orientee with sensitivity to the orientee’s individual strengths and learning needs.
• Creates purposeful learning experiences related to the orientee’s assessed learning needs and interests while ensuring a positive and rich experiential learning environment, including interprofessional clinical learning.
• Ensures the safety of the orientee and the patient by creating a safe and supportive learning environment and providing orientee oversight.
• Facilitates assimilation of the orientee and any staff floating to the unit into the work environment and relationships by helping the orientee or float staff understand social and cultural norms of the workplace.
• Continuously evaluates and assesses the orientee’s performance and competence for job readiness utilizing constructive feedback and coaching techniques for performance improvement.
• Completes and maintains required documentation of preceptorship activities and the orientee’s performance ensuring all required documentation is complete prior to the end of the preceptee’s orientation.
• Guides the orientee in the development of competency in the areas of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of patient care.
• Inspires and guides the actions of others and conveys professional values in the practice setting. A competent practitioner developing to become a clinical expert, participates in unit-based quality improvement initiatives as well as professional development activities.

• Graduate of an accredited nursing program
• Active RN license in the state of Nebraska or nurse license compact
• BLS (Basic life support) through American Heart Association 
• Practicing RN for a minimum of 18 months.
• Previous precepting experience for a minimum of 6 months