Mentor In Nursing
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2006) the term mentor is used to denote the role of a registered nurse who facilitates learning and supervises and assesses students in the practice place.
As a registered nurse on a busy Rehabilitation ward I always enjoy supporting student nurses whilst they are on placement with us. There was an apparent shortage of qualified mentors on the ward, and within my last personal development review with my line manager who identified a need to attain the mentorship qualification.As a registered nurse, I know that I must keep my knowledge and skills up-to-date throughout my working life. . The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2004) states, that as a registered nurse, you must keep your knowledge and skills up-to-date throughout your working life. Since the training I am more prepared to ensure that the student nurse has a positive learning experience it is essential that the learning environment is practically, professionally, and psychologically supportive. Clarke et al. (2003) notes that current nurse education puts a high value on learning in the clinical environment and this places numerous demands on clinical areas and staff .The quality of these clinical placements has a significant influence on the learning process for nursing students. Our ward aims to foster a good all-round learning experience to students on placement as we are fortunate to be a well resourced ward with many experienced staff. Although we can be busy in ward, students are positively received and supported well.
Our Lead mentor is always willing to help and support student nurses, she even take her own time to give any extra helpful information and support to all student nurses who comes to our ward (eg: Our Lead mentor (L.M.) comes to ward if she is Day off on the day to meet the student when she come to view the ward before placemnet starts, L.M. will stay late after her shift to complete the task which they planned to do on that day) on times.
It was important to know where this student was in her training for me to plan adequately when supporting her on the ward. Students can be made to feel welcome by someone simply knowing their name and being expected Davidson (2005). I was very impressed to hear that this student had found the members of staff supportive during her (very first) placement on our ward. The skills that I already hold and the skills I will learn in future all can be passed to student nurses throughout the placement with in my ward.
I understand that it is very important that my learner, clinical mentor and myself were guaranteed time free from interruptions. She appeared to fully understand her role as a student nurse as identified in the NMC guide for students of nursing and midwifery (NMC 2006a).
