Assuming that you are beyond the novice stage of skill acquisition, consider a time when you again became a novice. For example, you may believe yourself to be an expert in orthopedic nursing, but one day you are asked to float to a new unit where you are unfamiliar with the routines of that unit and the particular assessment and medications common to those types of patients. .Part 1 How did you use your more advanced practices to step back into that novice nurse role? Did you have a preceptor assigned to you? What resources did you use? .Part 2 If you are a preceptor to a novice nurse, how can you be effective in sharing your experience without being intimidating? What makes an ideal preceptor? I GOT T HIS FROM THE ORIENTATION CLASS The novice nurse is one who is brand-new to the profession (Bradshaw & Lowenstein, 2014). Student nurses are true novice nurses. They are beginners to the field of nursing, they have no experience, and they are at the very beginning of their journeys toward becoming professional nurses. Novice nurses are very concrete and literal in their nursing knowledge and behaviors. They require that someone provides them with step-by-step instructions so that they can perform the skills required of them. The competent nurse is a nurse with two to three years of experience in the same area or in similar situations over that time period. Through experience, the competent nurse is able to efficiently plan and organize based on “considerable conscious, abstract, analytical contemplation” of a situation (Bradshaw & Lowenstein, 2014). The competent nurse does not need to follow set rules or guidelines developed by others. He or she is able to plan duties through thoughtful analysis and prioritization of his or her patients’ needs. The proficient nurse “perceives situations as wholes” and is able to see the entire picture (Bradshaw & Lowenstein, 2014). The proficient nurse is able to see the cardiac patient with low urine output as at risk for renal failure as well, instead of only being concerned with cardiac sources of new symptoms. Using experience, the proficient nurse knows what to expect in certain situations and can alter plans to respond appropriately. Decision making is improved when the nurse is able to see the whole picture. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas. References less than 5 years.