At the 2026 Annual Conference of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, faculty from the Yale School of Nursing shared insights from an innovative clinical education approach designed to respond to a longstanding national challenge: the shortage of clinical preceptors and placement sites for nurse practitioner students.
Ami Marshall and Nicole Colline presented on YSN’s POD precepting model, developed within the Family Nurse Practitioner program as a way to reimagine how clinical education can be structured when traditional one-to-one preceptorships are increasingly difficult to secure. Instead of pairing a single student with a single preceptor, the POD model brings together small groups of students and preceptors in a shared, longitudinal learning community designed to increase capacity while strengthening the educational experience for everyone involved.
The pilot included six students and five preceptors, and what emerged went well beyond the logistical intent of expanding placement capacity. Participants consistently described a strong sense of community within the POD. Students benefitted from built-in peer support, using shared time to prepare for and reflect on clinical experiences together, while also learning directly from one another in real time. Preceptors, meanwhile, described feeling more supported by the school and appreciated the opportunity to engage more intentionally in reflection on their teaching practice.
Over time, several themes emerged from the pilot experience. The longitudinal structure created what participants described as “dynamic continuity”, allowing the group to adapt to changes in clinical environments while maintaining a stable learning foundation. Both students and preceptors also described significant “transformative growth”, noting that the sustained nature of the relationships required them to work through challenges together and develop a stronger growth mindset. Another consistent theme was that “everyone teaches, everyone learns”, as learning extended beyond the formal student-preceptor relationship to include patients, medical assistants, and other clinicians in the practice. Structured scheduling in advance of the semester also played an important role, providing clarity and predictability that both students and preceptors valued.
The pilot was not without challenges. In one instance, a preceptor left the practice unexpectedly early in the experience, requiring the group and program leadership to quickly collaborate and adjust the structure to maintain continuity for students. At the same time, that same longitudinal design led to an unanticipated outcome: a deepening sense of connection among preceptors themselves. Many reported that they had not previously known one another, but by the end of the pilot they were regularly communicating, sharing ideas, and collaborating more closely in their clinical teaching roles.
Building on these findings, Phase 2 of the POD model will launch in summer 2026 with several expansions. The next iteration will include students from both the FNP and Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner programs, introduce participation from part-time students, and add an additional clinical site—a community health center staffed in part by YSN alumni—broadening both the diversity and depth of clinical experiences.
Looking ahead, Marshall and Colline emphasized that the broader goal is not only programmatic improvement at YSN, but contribution to national dialogue in nurse practitioner education. By sharing the model through conference presentations and future publication, they hope other schools will consider adapting the POD framework to address clinical placement shortages in ways that also strengthen engagement and community among preceptors and students.
The central takeaway from their presentation was that sustainable solutions may already exist in the form of adaptable, relationship-centered models—approaches that expand capacity not by replacing existing structures, but by reshaping how learning communities are formed within them.