June 29, 2017
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Our Fathers Were Right: Patience is a Virtue. Try Slowing Down!

Hey everyone, I am currently writing a guest post for Provider Skills, and we’re collaborating with them because they are providing amazing resources for students who for Continuing Education (CE)! Plus, they’re founder; Mariea Snell is an incredible leader in the Nursing Industry!

We share a similar vision on what NP education should look like: Nurse Practitioner (NP) students should have more resources to find clinical locations across the United States.

We’ve even turned our Ultimate Guide E-book into an online course! Check it out, it’s pretty cool!

Currently, I’m writing this blog post for them about utilizing social media for students who really want to start engaging with preceptors in a faster capacity.

The biggest thing I realized is that many nurse practitioner students right now when they’re calling preceptor offices, these students are calling to try to secure a clinical rotation on the first call. Essentially, students are asking for the thing that they want too early. For us, when we’re recruiting preceptors, we’re calling to gather information. And there’s a subtle shift here that I really want to focus on.

Shift: Instead of calling to “close” on your first call, call to get information, the office manager’s email address

What many Nurse Practitioner students are currently doing

When you’re calling a preceptor for the first time, a preceptor’s clinic in the middle of Atlanta, D.C., New York, or Chicago, students are focusing on one of two results:

  1. Trying to speak with the office manager or,
  2. Trying just to figure out if the specific clinic has availability for students,

That’s a big goal on the very first call.

Maybe a better option for NP students to start, just subtly tweaking the framework behind your approach,  is if you call just to gather information on who the office manager is or who the preceptor is who would be taking the student.

Then, you can then outreach to them directly on social media like LinkedIn.

That’s actually the framework we use at NPHub and we’re finding to be a really effective strategy for you.

The big difference when we’re calling preceptors, or potential preceptors in brand new cities (we just recently acquired several rotations in Pittsburgh and Orlando, we’re being more patient and breaking down the process into steps.

You can’t necessarily go on the very first call and try to essentially close a new preceptor or rotation. If you’re thinking from a sales perspective, (my background), it’s very much a step by step process.

So, let’s breakdown the steps:

Step 1: Find out the best contact’s information. Maybe get their email address, or full name so you can find them on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram. You can do this while you’re talking to them on the phone.

Step 2: Send them a message on LinkedIn or send them a follow-up email, or do both J

Step 3: Ask. Feel Free to copy and paste this email script:

“Hey [Insert Name],I’m really interested in rotating with you all and [Insert preceptor’s name]! I followed up last week. I just wanted to  know if you guys had a chance to review my C.V.? Can I rotate with you guys?”

It’s difficult for nurse practitioner students to see success to conduct outreach to clinics during the day when preceptors are seeing patients. Getting a “Yes” at this point is incredibly difficult given how busy nurse practitioners are in the clinic.

With the number of patients, they have to see days, which as you know, can range from 2.5 to 2.7 patients an hour.

It’s a lot.

Sometimes even MDs might even try to see three an hour!

With this, it’s easier for the preceptor to say no because they’re busy.

When you reach out to them on social media, it gives them the opportunity to respond back to you on a medium where they’re present.

And if you wait to ask (a little bit) and practice a longer-term approach instead of immediately asking, it may help.

For any NP student who is struggling to find rotations, please download our free eBook, it’s a guide called “The Ultimate Guide on Finding Clinical Rotations on Your Own” shared with you all.

It’s word for word email scripts, word for word social media messages that we use.

Use it!

If it helps, then amazing!

If it doesn’t help, then reach out to us to help schedule you.

We really feel for you given the immense effort it takes to find your clinical rotation. We know intrinsically you shouldn’t have to do this, the fact that you do is frustrating.

Given that’s where we are right now, try this method. I promise it is a better method to practice a little bit more patience. Talk to you soon.

Cheers,

Krish Chopra

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