Mentorship Essay (Essay Sample)

Mentorship
Name
Institution
Mentorship
Mentorship is a situation where there is some personal development a more educated or experienced individual helps to guide a beginner or a less experienced person (Shaw, 2012). Most often than not, mentorship is career or professional progress as well as personal support. The criteria for an effective learning environment comprises of the use of humanistic tactic to learning, an excellent working team spirit in the clinical room, an efficient but flexible management style with teaching being recognized and last but not least teaching and learning support from qualified staff. The essay will also discuss the mentor’s role in creating an environment that facilitates maximum learning for student nurses. Furthermore, the essay will identify and discuss various ways in which a mentor can support the development of his or her own clinical learning environment.
Use of humanistic approach to learning is very effective. According to the humanistic theory, a mentor is only a facilitator, and it emphasizes that the student should have control over the learning process. For the whole process of learning to take place, it’s crucial that students ask questions (Dunn & Phd, 1995). The topic of discussion sparks curiosity in the mind of the students which is evident by the number of questions directed at the teacher. The mentor should reward the student even with a compliment since according to behaviorists such as Watson 1995, the more you praise or reward behavior, the more that the student will repeat it.
Assessment should be insistent and never punitive. Examination tries to gauge what a learner understands. The more infrequent and threatening it is, the more it creates a gap between the good students and the good thinkers (Muldowney & Mckee, 2011). Furthermore, assessment is meant to assist the mentor to know the degree of competency a student has hence determine the support needed. All this is intended for the development of the student as far as his career is concerned.
Efficient though flexible management style, with teaching being recognized is crucial criteria for an effective learning environment. The mentor should set objectives for the student to achieve and at the same time motivate him or her. Human beings tend to feel good when they are motivated to do a particular activity. If the learner does not believe he or she will succeed in a certain activity chances are that he or she will not participate in the required learning activity. Students can either motivate themselves or receive motivation externally from other people like motivational speakers. Self-motivation is the best since it comes from inside the person. Doing something because one wants to, is better than doing it out of obligation. Once the student realizes this, then success is easily achieved.
A good working team spirit in the clinical room ought to be encouraged. Excellent communication, as well as an interpersonal relationship between registered nurses and the students, guarantees a good working team spirit in the wards. The relationship ensures that in case a student has questions regarding a certain issue, he or she can approach the nurse without fear hence providing the healthy interaction and an atmosphere of trust (Fretwell, 1982). This is primarily because students learn students learn by being with others and observing what they do as portrayed by the social learning theory.
A mentor plays a very crucial role as far as the students are concerned. The secret of being a good mentor lies in the ability to construct a good working relationship with the student. This goes a long way to try and reduce the anxiety the student faces when he or she is placed in a new location. Usually, mentor’s situated in remote area where clinics are understaffed, then the mentor has to balance between tackling the health problems of the patients and administration duties, then the little time that he or she allocates to the students should be beneficial and address all the needs of the student. For this to be achieved it’s crucial that a good working relationship is made fast.
The mentor should make sure that the student is welcomed into the placement institution, and orientation takes place immediately. This ensures that the student settles down comfortably and ready to learn. The mentor should also ensure that the student gets to do some basic tasks in the ward and not just observe since according to the experiential learning theory, some students learn better through concrete, hands-on experience. Mentors should open up by sharing some of their experiences when they were students to try and identify with the students. In addition, the guide should also ask general questions outside nursing to attempt to know the student better. Extensive research done on the subject revealed that a real orientation experience reduces too much reliance on the mentor. Orientation should comprise of an introduction to the ward team, a tour of the institution, emergency facilities and procedures that are taken in case of emergencies like fire (Orton, 1981).
Building rapport makes all the difference. Creating a relationship with the student whereby the mentor display qualities of acceptance, genuineness, trust, as well as respect, makes the student feel at home. Being a mentor does not mean you have to have all the answers nor does it mean you are perfect but a mentor has to create a picture of a professional who is also learning just like everybody else and is willing to share the little knowledge that he or she has. Mentors should not try to act or try to play a fake role and judging the student (Polifko, 2010). Only then, will the student feel at ease with the mentor and open up to him or her by asking questions.
It is the mentor’s role to motivate the student. According to the motivational theory, by Abraham Maslow 1990, there are certain ways as to how to appreciate as well as to account for the requirements of the students. He continues to say that higher order needs are impossible to meet without handling the small order needs. First, physiological needs must be fulfilled, seconded by security and safety, belonging, self- esteem, as well as self- actualization. Mentors should look at students as regular people who have private lives outside nursing.
As far as physiological needs are concerned, students will end up getting very little from the placement if they are under a lot of stress from lack of food, as well as accommodation. The mentor can consult with the school administrators to ensure that the student can access student loans so as to cater for these human necessities. Many students attempt to balance between their families and school hence they are usually under a lot of stress. Therefore, tutors should try to be supportive and be realistic in what they expect the student to do. In case the student consistently falls short of what is expected, the tutor should take it upon himself or herself to offer the much-needed guidance.
To tackle security and belonging needs, the mentor can introduce orientation programme where he or she introduces the student to other members of staff. This is highly useful if the orientation is done at the beginning of the placement. The student should feel the support offered by the staff as well as the mentor when he is asked to handle a task that he or she is not conversant with (Daws, 1988). At the same time, the student should carry out constructionist learning, whereby he or she is actively involved in their own learning.
Mentorship majors mainly in guidance (Epstein, 2012). The mentor ensures that he or she introduces the student to helpful people or staff in the institution. They must make sure that the student undertakes all mandatory requirements stipulated before the completion of the placement. According to the theory of advising in integrating learning, advising enhances learning. Students see their supervisors so that they can learn from them. In this process of advising, learner ought to be active rather than passive because communication is two-way.
Clinical placements are essential in a nurse’s education since they impact students with practical skills. Therefore, the success of the placement heavily relies on the support that is rendered by the mentor. For a guide to support the development of his or her own clinical environment, he or she should be knowledgeable and able to develop good working relationships.
Mentors should take mentorship programmes or enroll in mentorship courses that impact them with the necessary knowledge on how to tap the potential out of nurse students. Often than not, you find that the materials that the university sends to this clinics are usually not read so when the students come he or she is faced with hostility and surprise (Ogier, 1982). Therefore, if mentors undertake mentorship programmes they can know precisely how important some of the things they take for granted are to the student. Some mentors do not update their knowledge, and when they face challenging questions from the students, they get annoyed.
Mentors are very busy people since they have to balance so many duties allocated to them. If a mentor shows support by trying to squeeze some time to meet the student and get feedbacks about his or her problems in the clinic, then that makes the student feels happy appreciated therefore creating an environment suitable for better learning (Hindman, Grant & Stronge, 2013).
Appropriate use of the mentor’s powers also shows support for the development of the clinical learning environment. In situations where the mentors use their powers over the student inappropriately, for example by punishing the student, tension is immediately created (Hughes & Quinn, 2007). Due to this, students fear asking qu...