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Many nurse practitioner students feel ready for clinicals on content, but don’t know how to present a patient to their preceptor. In this episode of the DNP Faculty Podcast, host Dr. Michael Maymi talks with Dr. Danielle Chaplin and Dr. Kim Castillio. All three are nurse practitioners, preceptors, and faculty at the University of Florida College of Nursing. They discuss how they teach the SNAPPS model in their Advanced Health Assessment course.

SNAPPS is a learner-centered framework for case presentations:

• Summarize the history and findings briefly
• Narrow the differential to two or three likely diagnoses
• Analyze the differential by comparing and contrasting the possibilities
• Probe the preceptor about anything uncertain or confusing
• Plan management, including diagnostics and treatment
• Select a case-related issue for self-directed learning

In this episode:

• Why case presentation is the biggest gap for students, and how long, disorganized presentations strain busy preceptors in a state already short on NP preceptors
• How SNAPPS differs from the One-Minute Preceptor by giving the student ownership of the presentation
• A live 90-second demonstration of SNAPPS for a patient with otitis externa
• The pre-clinical immersion role-play, where students take turns as NP student, patient, and preceptor to build empathy and skill
• How students have responded, including the SNAPPS pocket card they bring to clinicals
• Advice for faculty in other programs: start small, and write cases around common complaints

Reference

Wolpaw, T. M., Wolpaw, D. R., & Papp, K. K. (2003). SNAPPS: A learner-centered model for outpatient education. Academic Medicine, 78(9), 893–898. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200309000-00010