Mentoring and Enabling Learning in the Practice Setting (Research Paper Sample)

Mentoring and Enabling Learning in the Practice Setting
Name
Institution
Part 1: Introducing the Mentorship Role
A mentor is commonly defined as a person with experience in a given practice discipline, who uses their knowledge and expertise to advice and help a novice to develop work-related skills. The act of mentoring involves the mentor sharing with the mentee knowledge and information about the profession as well as motivating and guiding the mentee to deepen their knowledge and understanding of their job responsibilities. In nursing, mentoring may involve a practicing nurse helping a student nurse to develop patient management skills such as interacting with patients and monitoring their progress. Additionally, mentors help their protégés to explore different career paths, set goals or identify useful resources for improving their performance.
This essay is a reflective account of my experience of facilitating learning, assessing and teaching a student or co-worker and how this experience will inform my future development as a mentor. My place of employment is Acute Assessment Unit (AAU) In London where I have been working for 1 year and a half as registered nurse. Having the opportunity to get involved in the AAU team is an unsurpassable opportunity to expand, secure and apply all the skills and knowledge gained at the university. Despite data suggest that nurse mentors are struggling to fulfill the role with minimal formal support from their work environment (Nettleton & Bray, 2008). I believe that after achieving the requirements settled in Standards to support learning and assessment in practice (2008) by the NMC to become a mentor, my goal will focus on delivering high-quality and effective mentorship that can be a valuable tool in recruiting and retaining nurses as well as improving their sense of job satisfaction.
The Royal College of Nurses defines a mentor as a professional who ‘facilitates learning, and supervises and assesses students in a practice setting” (NMC, 2008, p.45). In this regard, a mentor is a person who possess organizational and coordination skills to enable him or her identify and organize relevant learning activities for the mentee, as well as supervise and assess the mentee’s progress.
As a nurse, I recognize the significance of my role in facilitating the professional development of future nurses. My biggest challenge towards realizing this goal is helping mentees in translating class knowledge and theoretical concepts into practice and applicable skills in the work place (Fishel & Johnson, 1981). This is in line with the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s requirement for nursing students to have exposure to 50% of theoretical learning and 50 % to practical learning. Thus, the mentoring experience is beneficial both to the mentor by providing the opportunity to refine their own skills through the teaching process, and to the mentee through the opportunity to learn from a more experienced person. To be able to achieve this goal, the mentor should seek to advance their own knowledge by seeking professional development opportunities such as undertaking further education and training in line with the RNC goals and standards. Mentoring also provides the opportunity for practice based learning by creating opportunities for developing the skills through interaction with patients and their families (Ali & Panther, 2008).
Nursing is regarded as an applied vocational social science because it involves application of evidence based practices in clinical settings. As a vocational discipline, it provides nursing practitioners with the opportunity to advance their skills through practice-based learning (O’Brien, 2010). In addition, the clinical setting environment exposes registered nurses to experienced professionals who act as role models, mentors, and coaches (Gaberson, Oerman, & Shellenbarger, 2014). It is through these practice-based training programs- mentorship, coaching and role modeling that nurses hone their skills and become more effective in meeting patient needs. They provide experiential learning opportunities that expose nurse to real life health issues. In addition, practice-based learning allows nurses to extend classroom concepts and theories into clinical settings where they apply learned knowledge to address patient problems.
Practice based learning differs from what happens in higher educational institutes by integrating theory and practice through the application of nursing skills in clinical settings. In practice based learning, the registered nurse engages in practical application of the concepts learned in the classroom setting. In contrast, HEI does doe expose nurse students to the level of theory application offered in practice-based learning. The role of HEI is proving student nurses with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and the skills they will later apply in clinical settings.
A mentor is an individual who plays the role of advisor and guide for another, usually a novice, in a given professional discipline. The mentor helps the novice to improve their knowledge and experience in job-related tasks, or to achieve career/personal goals. In healthcare setting, a mentor is usually an experienced nurse or health practitioner who guides a new or inexperienced practitioner to gain experience in applying classroom concepts in clinical practice.
The term mentor is of Greek origin, referring to a person who guides another to become better in carrying out certain tasks. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a mentor as “an experienced and trusted advisor” (Rogers, et al., 2012). This definition emphasizes the importance of trust in the mentoring relationship between the mentor and the mentee. Trust facilitates the learning process as it encourages the mentee to open up to their weaknesses and the need for assistance. Conversely, it encourages the mentor to be honest in his or her assessment and evaluation of the mentee, as well as in providing genuine feedback that not only highlights the mentee’s strengths, but also weakness areas.
However, the understanding of the term mentor has evolved over time to encompass broad meanings, including the notion of mentor being a friend, counsel and supporter in one’s endeavors to achieve certain goals (Gopee, 2011). In addition, a mentor is understood as an older (experienced) person who is responsible for the learning and development of a younger one (Andrews, 1999). This definition is reflected in nursing mentorship since the mentor is usually an older and more experienced nurse practitioner who guides fresh nurse graduates in learning how to apply classroom concepts in clinical settings.
Regardless, these definitions are narrow focused because they do not incorporate the evaluation and assessment components of mentorship. Before mentoring is implemented, the mentors assesses the mentee to determine their current level of knowledge and experience to inform the planning of relevant learning activities and experiences that will help the mentee to improve develop their skills. In addition, traditional definitions of mentor do not include the necessary qualities that a mentor must possess in order to provide successful mentoring experiences. In addressing these definitional gaps, Phillips et al. (2000) redefined mentor as “a nurse, midwife or health visitor who facilitates learning, supervises and assesses students in the clinical setting.” Billay & Yonge (2004) advances this definition by incorporating attributes like being a role model and expertise in a specific field, and using this qualities to aid the development of another person.
The NMC provides a structured definition that recognizes a mentor as a stage two qualified registered nurse who “facilitates learning, supervises and assesses students in a practice setting" (NMC, 2008). This definition identifies a mentor as a professional who plays there important roles in the development of another person. First, the mentor is a facilitator of learning through the planning and implementation of learning activities, as well as exposing the mentee to learning experiences. Secondly, the mentor is an assessor of the mentee’s knowledge and experience level, for the purpose of identifying weakness areas and informing the selection of suitable learning activities. Finally, the mentor plays the role of supervisor by ensuring that the mentee engages in the selected learning experiences, as well as follows the mentorship plan developed at the beginning.
Ensuring Confidentiality
Confidentiality refers to the need to protect the identity of individuals involved in experimental or data collection exercises. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council standards, it is recommended to use pseudonyms or omit the names of the persons involves (NMC, 2008). Accordingly, this essay ensures confidentiality by referring to the mentee by a gender pronoun instead of her real name.
Part 2: The NMC Standards
The NMC standards consist of objectives for mentors and practice teachers to meet as part of the NMC’s goal of improving practice standards and promoting safe healthcare practices. The standards provide a comprehensive framework for safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the public. In this regard, it should form the basis for guiding nurses’ daily work place practices with respect to interacting with and handling patient problems. They are the standards that the public and patients expect from healthcare providers, and therefore forms the basic guidelines for professional conduct. The standards include eight domains that nurse mentors should fulfill in their relationship with the mentees. They include establishing effective working relationships, facilitation of learning, assessment and accountability, Eva...