Community Preceptors

TCU utilizes a number of community preceptors in many of our programs in the Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences and in the College of Science and Engineering (Nutritional Sciences for the most part). In fact, many of our programs are required to do this for accreditation and we are indebted to the countless community preceptors and mentors our students have.

As a community provider, you are likely to already know and understand the value and benefit that comes from working with your interdisciplinary or interprofessional colleagues. Often this benefit extends to the clients or patients when we work to provide more coordinated care for them and their families. There is also the important added benefit of a reduction in possible medical or intervention errors when the team is working with good communication, clear team member roles and responsibilities, and ethical practice.

All of our programs work closely with community agencies and organizations to make sure that our students have opportunities to work with skilled and caring professionals and  to work in environments where all members of the team are valued and respected. If you are interested in working with TCU programs, you can access our departments.

As a community preceptor with practice experience in your discipline, you may be interested in the National Academies of Practice (NAP) which is in the next section. As a practitioner, you might meet the standards to be recognized as a Distinguished Practitioner and Fellow. It requires individuals to have spent a significant portion (10 years or more) of their professional career in the practice and direct delivery of health care services. You would then be evaluated and judged by a group of your peers, members of NAP, as to whether your accomplishments demonstrate that you have made an enduring contribution in your profession.