Secondary prevention depends on maintaining an awareness that things can go wrong. Community-based teachers of health professionals are often optimists in dealing with their learners. They have come to expect high-quality learners with whom they are able to interact in a positive and pleasant way. As a result, early warning signs of difficult interactions are often ignored, downplayed, or attributed to a bad day or other circumstances. It is crucial for the teacher to pay close attention to these hunches or feelings that things may not be quite right.
Additional clues can come from the comments or opinions of staff or partners.
Not all will reveal an underlying serious problem, but serious problems can be missed if these warning signs are not viewed as potential indicators of significant issues. A delay of 1 week may lead to further delay, and, before long, the problem has grown, or it is near the end of the experience, and there is not time to intervene. In the community educational setting, the preceptor must examine and address potential issues as early as possible due to the limited time of contact. Plan to institute an organized assessment of a potential problem situation early. The earlier the preceptor begins looking critically at the situation, the more likely it is that an intervention will succeed.