Mentorship Practice Education Facilitators June 2005

Aim :- The mentor will have a clearer understanding of their role, responsibilities and accountability while working with a student in a clinical practice placement Outcomes:- Recognise your responsibilities and how this impacts on students’ learning Be aware of the barriers and potential barriers that impact on mentoring in the clinical learning environment/practice placement

Does this look familiar? Most of us will have felt like this at some point however it is not the message that we should convey to students.

Definition of a Mentor:- A nurse, midwife or specialist community public health nurse who facilitates learning and supervises and assesses students in the practice setting. This definition is from the NMC (2002) although there are many other definitions.

Your Responsibilities You have a duty to facilitate students of nursing and midwifery and others to develop their competence. NMC (2002) 6.4 As well as a responsibility to the NMC we also have a responsibility to facilitate students learning from NHS Tayside via our job description.

Positive Qualities of the Mentor:- Supportive - approachable, make student welcome, positive attitude, guidance, team building, lay out of room/area Pro-active - aware how students learn, ensure that time is identified to plan learning, use all available resources including other areas and members of the multi disciplinary team, liase with associate mentors and wider team Positive Role Model - maintain high standards, relate theory to practice, engage in lifelong learning, be willing to share knowledge Academic Understanding - gain knowledge of the student’s programme, awareness of the academic resource available e.g. library, e- learning Challenging - push/stimulate student, asking probing questions, have mechanism for feedback and constructive advice.

Barriers to Mentorship:- Poor Communication - think back to the cartoon and try not to display the unhelpful behaviour, it can be difficult when a student is not interested in the placement, although try and work through this Lack of Understanding of Students’ Needs - gain insight into their requirements Attitude - be the positive role model Time - this is probably the biggest barrier. Sometimes reorganisation can help e.g. do not have the student starting on an early on a Monday, stager the days that students start in the area.

The Way Forward Below are areas to consider when thinking about Mentorship:- Partnerships in Learning Support from PEFs Reflect on your own Personal Style Support your colleagues Students today are Trained Staff Tomorrow