P2A@ and P2B@
TaniAlexis
P2A.docxRespond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one or more of the following ways:
· Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research using an in-text citation in APA format.
· Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
· Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
· Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
· Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
· Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.
AMBER WADDINGTON
RE: Discussion - Week 2
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Initial Post – Nurses as Leaders
After reading The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, I have chosen the research priority: Identification of the characteristics of mentors that have been (or could be) most successful in recruiting and training diverse nurses and nurse faculty. I have chosen this because I am getting my master’s in education.
“Mentoring involves primarily listening with empathy and learning professional friendship, developing insight through reflection, being a sounding board, encouraging” (Helen Foster, 2015). Nursing students and new nurses all know what it’s like to have a nurse mentor, but do the nurse mentors and nurse educators know what it really means to be a good mentor and provide the best learning experience needed. A mentor is someone that a new nurse or nursing student can go to when they are having problems, have questions, or just need someone to talk with. A mentor can also be someone that they met while in orientation through their job. Having a mentor has been proven to be a pivotal point in a student nurse/new nurse’s success.
“The most important characteristics of mentorship are enthusiasm, a positive attitude, experience, and a willingness to spend time with students” (Sabine Huybrecht, 2011). I have been a nurse since January of this year, but the hospital I work for believes that I would be a good mentor that they have allowed me to have students with me during my shifts. I absolutely love this. I remember having a nurse allow me to follow her throughout her shift and sometimes they were not good experiences. I felt as though the nurse did not want me there because I was in the way or I was asking to many questions. Having a positive attitude, no matter what is thrown your way, not only shows your student that you can handle the stress of the day to day but it also does not carry over to your patient care.
Ways that we can improve our mentor/mentee relationship could be by providing classes to the mentors on how to have a successful mentorship with nursing students, new nurses, or nurses from other countries, engaging our mentees to know how they learn, give positive and negative feedback, making suggestions to make their nursing life easier, and learn about their culture. When it comes to positive and negative feedback, mentors need to be able to say the feedback in a way that comes off as educational. Allowing the mentee to know when they do something right can provide some benefits like boosting their confidence, ensuring they do know what they are doing, and feel good about themselves. Constructive feedback can highlight areas for improvement that is needed.
Offering suggestions is a great way mentors can improve the mentor/mentee relationship. During my 7-week orientation with my mentor, I was given two great ideas that I still use to this day and offer my student nurses and new nurses that I meet. The first one was keeping a mini 3-ring binder with my patient cardex in as well as mini Velcro folders to keep the patient’s medications in. I can not tell you how much time this has saved me. I am able to go pull my patient’s medications and all their information in one place. I know exactly what is going on at all times because I have everything written down. Another suggestion given to me was to place the patients assigned to me for the shift under “my patients’ tab in the pyxis system. This also saves a lot of time when it comes to grabbing something quickly for my patients during a code or during the day. I have mentioned this to my nurse educators at my job and they all have agreed that this is a great tip to share. In the hospitals one-week orientation, they have started advising this a time management saving technique.
While doing research for this topic, there is not a lot of information out there which I found to be frustrating. Having a mentor is a huge part of student nurses and new nurses’ success to making a good nurse as well as maintaining them in their place of employment. Everyone needs a person or persons they can run to for help with anything. Every hospital that I have worked for has had nurse educators and higher level of management offered as mentors to work with new nurses, but after so much time, I have seen them stop coming around as much to check on the nurse. I think we need to change that. Mentors need to be there for everyone whether they are a brand-new baby nurse or someone who has been there for 20 years. More research needs to be done to show that mentors play a huge role in all nurses’ careers and it does help to have them around for a long time. The more we learn about how this idea works the more we will find there are benefits not just for the mentees but also for the mentors. “For mentors, these benefits can include increased access to educational programs, connection with the scientific basis of nursing programs, recognition, job satisfaction, increased learning skills, and potential career advancement for mentors” (Sabine Huybrecht, 2011). In the end, we are all about the patients and patient care, so if we can provide a solid relationship between mentors and mentees, I believe the patient satisfaction would improve.
References
Helen Foster, A. O.-M. (2015). Nursing students' expectations and experiences of mentorship. Nurse Education Today, 35(1), 18-24. Retrieved December 2, 2018
Sabine Huybrecht, W. L. (2011). Mentoring in nursing education: Perceived characteristics of mentors and the consequences of mentorship. Nurse Education Today, 31, 274-278. doi:https://doi-org.ezp.waldenlibrary.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2010.10.022
Yanhua Chen, R. W. (2016). A review of mentorship measurement tools. Nurse Education Today, 40, 20-28. Retrieved December 2 2, 2018
National Academy of Sciences. (2011) The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Retrieved from https://download.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12956
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