Being located between two large Tokyo hospitals Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital,and National Center for Global Health and Medicine we have welcomed many nurses and doctors as students over the years. Teaching medical professionals in Japan it quickly becomes apparent that many of the loan words used in Japanese hospitals are German in origin, so we get Karte (カルテ) for Medical Record, Rentogen (レントゲン) for X-ray, Gips (ギプス) for plaster-cast etc.but this week I encountered the word 'Preceptee.'

 My student explained to me that a 'preceptee' was a new member of the nursing team, and my first thought was that it was a Japanese-English word and therefore confined to Japan. Curiosity, and a sense of completeness, got the better of me and it turns out that student nurses can, or must, participate in a Preceptorship, guided by an experienced practitioner, known as a Preceptor, therefore making the nurses undergoing a period of Preceptorship, Preceptees.

 Please note it is only, as far as I am aware, used with newly qualified nurses gaining practical experience in a hospital setting.

 As they say, you learn something new everyday!