In this essay I am going to discuss the key enabling traits required by a mentor (Morton-Cooper and Palmer, 2005). I will analysis the different ways I have utilized these enabling traits as a mentor to influence the successful mentoring of my third year student in an acute in-patient mental health ward. The essay will be supported with relevant educational theory. Finally, I will reflect and evaluate on my performance as a mentor.
Mentoring is an important role to undertake as a nurse, formally or informally in once professional life. This experience will help many nurses to recognize areas of development and further career option, for example nurse lecturer, practitioner and manager. The English National Board and Department for Health (2000) define mentorship as the role of the nurse, midwife or health visitor who facilitates learning and supervises and assesses students in the practice setting. Since mentors spend most time with students in the clinical area, they are in the best position to judge students’ capabilities and to guide and assist them in developing and achieving their learning objectives. The NMC (2006) states that Sign off Mentors have final assessment of practice to make judgements that all competencies have been met and that the student is considered proficient to register.
Morton-Cooper and Palmer (2000) identified good mentors as those that have enabling traits. These include the following:
Competence - mentors should have the appropriate knowledge of the subject area as well as a sense of organization. Some of the attributes of competence include the ability to command respect from others and the skill to build the student’s strengths by giving constructive criticism and feedback. Other skills incl...
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...essional role as a mentor.
CONCLUSION
There is a need to recognize that once one takes on the role of mentor, they will need these enabling traits, thus knowing which best suits the student’s development. Being a mentor has given me the opportunity to develop learning skills in my clinical practice that will contribute to students learning and hence my professional developing as a nurse educator in the future.
The lessons that I learned regarding been a good mentor is the ability to transfer my knowledge and enthusiasm to students and junior staff and guide them towards succeeding. My student developed a friendly relationship with me and gained a lot of respect for the help I provided. Finally, it is clear that as a mentor one should have an attitude of giving and that the enabling traits of commitment, confidence and competence are extremely important.
...ves with practice, it is important for students to gain knowledge about the skill and use them when on clinical placements. Learning these skills will also prepare the student nurses in future to delegate task when they qualify and become RN’s. In relation to my nursing practice, when I become a registered nurse, I will assist student nurses in their career by delegating tasks to them that are within their level of competence as well as making sure that all tasks assigned to them are duly supervised and follow up on the delegated task. I will encourage them to seek clarification where necessay. Providing feedback and praising them for work well done is another thing I would bring into my practice. I will equally inform them through feedback of any task which did not work well and show them areas where they need to improve upon.
A number of studies conducted suggest mentoring has taken the lead as the most sought after form of intervention for high risk youth (Miller, Barnes, Miller, McKinnon, 2013; Allison, K. W., Edmonds, T., Wilson, K., Pope, M., & Farrell, A. D., 2011; Spencer, R., Collins, M. E., Ward, R., & Smashnaya, S. 2010; Williams, 2011). Such programs are devoted to reducing risk (Allison et al., 2011) of youth violence, reentry, and delinquency ( Williams, 2011).Though mentoring methods have been the focus of recent research, there is many gaps left in current literature that proclaim more study is needed (Miller et al., 2013) in order to inform programs, and researchers regarding effective methods.
This definition of mentor is ratified by Parsloe (2009): To support and encourage individuals to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.
The registered nurses, selected to be mentors are the more experience, knowledgeable and will support and nurture the new grad. These Mentors are the individuals that tell the new nurse what she needs to know and will show her ways to accomplish her goals successfully and expose them to opportunities to learn new things. The nur...
The three main competencies of the Mentor Role are "understanding yourself and others, interpersonal communication and developing others" (Hesketh et al pp 4). Because high school students are less experienced the author used this role continually in an effort to develop his students and guide them through their learning experiences. Per Hesketh et al the author must determine his own strengths and weaknesses so he can maximize them. "Your weaknesses can be overcome through self-development" (Hesketh et al. 1997 pp 51). By researching all he could about the Health Science Technology program, the author was able to teach with confidence because he had decreased any weaknesses he had in his knowledge.
With the development of the more organic and less formal organisational structures the role of mentors has shifted with these changes. Unlike previously where mentors where seen as formal trainers who taught newcomers the processes and got them acquainted with the cultures and the systems within the organisation. Which required good interpersonal skills and a good knowledge of the activity or tasks the mentee would have to undertake, and be able to effectively relay or demonstrate the tasks or activities to the mentee. As opposed to more recently where a mentor would have to be more of an emotional counselor and demonstrate more skills than were traditionally required from mentors in the past, such as being emotionally sensitive and sometimes employing diversity mentoring
In summary an effective mentor is someone who has a particular view of the nature of human beings and how they should be treated, has certain personal attributes, up-to-date knowledge and skills related to their professional practice and a genuine desire to give time and energy to the role of mentor. This is important as its helps in building student’s confident and also be able to work in friendly environment.
Preceptor programs have been developed to help nursing shortages and help alleviate the difficulties of a newly hired nurse. A proper learning environment for both the preceptor and student nurse needs to include supportive staff members and supervisors, patience and motivation, and passion from the preceptor. A preceptor role takes encouragement and determination. Preceptors play a strong role in mentoring student nurses; it improves job satisfaction and job retention. Preceptor programs deserve the greatest attention and hard work, as it is the foundation of the future of
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) defines the role of a mentor as a nurse with specific training who is able to facilitate learning, and supports and supervises students in a practice setting (NMC 2008). Mentorship plays an integral part in the next generation of practitioners and nursing professionals play a vital role in guiding a process that allows the transference of knowledge, skills and attributes from healthcare professionals to the students they are working with (English National Board and Department of Health 2001).
Coaching and mentoring are not about learning to do something the right way, but are about helping to lead an individual to find their own way of doing it practically and efficiently. Coaching and mentoring sessions are guided with theoretical models, which help focus both the coach and the coachee in attaining desired outcomes for problem situations. However, even with the aid of theoretical models not everyone can coach another person. The first and far most important attribute of a coach is the ability to build relationships with the coachee in that the coachee feels safe and trusting towards the coach, without the capability to interact with the client there may be a lack of progress or motivation. Another important skill of a coach is not to judge.
Richard C. Morais comments on the effect of mentors in his novel The Hundred Foot Journey. The mentorship of Madame Mallory, Paul Verdun, and his father, Abbas, push Hassan on his journey and enable him to be the first immigrant chef to receive three Michilen stars. By definition, a mentor is “a wise and trusted counselor or teacher; an influential senior sponsor or supporter” (Dictionary.com). In some way or another, Abbas, Madame Mallory, and Paul Verdun all meet this definition. Morais primarily uses Hassan’s mentors to show the effect that mentors have on their mentees.
Goldman (1995) discusses how leaders with high emotional intelligence are able to assess, identify, and predict others emotions while being able to effectively manage their own feelings as they interact with others. Leaders who have high emotional intelligence have the abilities to motivate oneself and persist during difficult situations, they are able to control impulses or emotions, they are capable of regulating their moods, they are able to think during difficult situations as well as empathize with others. This type of leader is able to not only recognize their own emotions, but also recognize the emotions and well-being of people around them. The author describes the importance of listening to others, being self-aware, using self-regulation,
Pellatt, G. (2006). Nursing mentors. The role of mentors in supporting pre-registration nursing students. British Journal Of Nursing, 15(6), 336-340.
Having an effective working relationship with a student is an important goal and will underpin all other aspects of mentoring (Walsh, 2014). It is advisable to build this relationship quickly and effectively within the first week of the student’s placement, this is known to be the mentor’s responsibility and allows the mentor to demonstrate to be organised, productive and welcoming (Walsh,
When creating a successful mentor and mentee, Dr. Chopra and Dr. Saint instructed us from the mentor point of view. The first step is to choose mentees carefully and to encourages