Newly qualified nurses often experience difficulties moving from the role of student to qualified nurse. It has been formally recognized that these nurses require a support network to enable them to make this transition smoothly. Preceptorship is an important part of the UKCC's post-registration education and practice proposals. They recommend a period of 4 months under the guidance of a preceptor to enable newly appointed practitioners to achieve confidence within practice.

This new edition covers the essential information required to provide learning and support for newly qualified staff. It provides an excellent introduction that is current, relevant and comprehensive in its coverage. Additions to this new edition include coverage of clinical supervision and its relationship to mentoring and preceptorship. This text describes in detail the three main support roles: clinical supervision, mentoring, and preceptorship. These roles are illustrated throughout by case studies.

Alison Morton-Cooper has had many years of experience in the field of health care, in health services journalism, as a health educator and latterly as a senior nurse and lecturer in continuing professional education. Her MEd and PhD in Continuing Education from the University of Warwick, England, led to substantive research as to the ways health professionals learn best from practice. Last but not least, she is the mother of a teenage son diagnosed as having high functioning autism, and she is an experienced advocate for families affected by autism.

Anne Palmer, Freelance Education Consultant at the Centre for Higher Education Studies, University of London, UK.