A nurse mentor is an extremely useful asset for nurses starting in the industry. Mentors enable their mentees to grow through different spheres and phases of their lives and careers. Transitioning to practise from university might feel overwhelming. When nurses first start out in the profession it’s quite common to feel lost or confused. Possible for those who know concepts theoretically but face practical difficulties. Like every profession, nursing also has a learning curve and needs some time to adapt to their new profession. Having someone, like a nurse mentor to guide them through it, would be extremely beneficial.
A recent review of the application of nursing mentorship programmes and their effectiveness drew a conclusion on its benefits. Nurse mentoring positively impacts competencies, turnover rates, and job satisfaction (Zhang et al). Successful mentoring protects against various issues such as:
- Workplace adversities
- Combating work related stress
- Improving patient care
- Increasing job satisfaction
- Increasing the sense of belonging and purpose
Mentoring relationships have been found to be mutually beneficial for both the mentees and mentors. Benefits of helping new nurses include retaining expertise and understanding current nursing challenges.
Evidence Showing Successful Impacts Of various Nurse Mentor Programs:
A few studies conducted in various hospitals around the world showed positive results after implementing nurse mentorship programs:
- Study from 3 hospitals in Taiwan examined the effect of mentoring on job satisfaction. The self administered questionnaires were given to the new nurses to fill in. 306 samples were collected and a regression analysis was done to test the impact of mentoring functions. Results show that nurse mentors positively impact job satisfaction of new nurses in psychosocial support and career development.
- Partners in Nursing, a community-based program, launched to address nursing workforce shortage. It was conducted at the University of Maryland in 2011. Results show increased retention rates among nursing graduates due to mentorship with assigned nurse mentors. This indicates that the mentorship program succeeded in its goal and yielded positive results.
- Increasing the cost – effectiveness of the hospitals: – Struggling with attrition, a 3 year ‘Nurse Mentor Program’ was launched in California. Its goal was to improve the quality and effectiveness of patient care through the retention of nurses. Assigned nurse mentors guided nurses through procedures, increasing motivation and success. Result: fewer resignations, saving on hiring/training costs and supplies. The evaluation of the findings of the program were positive that the hospitals were successful in cost reduction.
There are plenty of Nurse vacancies in Mylocum. We are hiring Mental Health nurses as well. You can register in the link below.
Advantages Of Having A Nurse Mentor for a New Nurse:
Advantage Of Having A Nurse Mentor for a New Nurse
Having a nurse mentor has proved to be beneficial in many ways. A few of them are listed below:
- Providing guidance: – Your nurse mentor helps you to know more about the nursing field which you are going to enter than you do. They can give you insights and provide advice on how to avoid common mistakes and find success.
- They can help solve problems: – If you find yourself struggling with a particular nursing task or have difficulty in managing work, school and life then you can sit down with your nurse mentor and have a frank conversation about it. They will solve the problems with you.
- Offer emotional support: – A good nurse mentor will always be there for you when you are feeling overwhelmed, out – of – sorts or confused. They will give you a safe space to talk about the issues with honesty. As they must have also gone through various similar issues and will always have a sympathetic ear to listen to you.
- They can help in building confidence: – Along with pointing out your mistakes, a good nurse mentor will also provide words of encouragement and positive affirmations. In mentoring student nurses, this is crucial as this helps them feel validated and makes them feel like they are on the right track, despite whatever struggle they are facing.
- They can help in building a career in the field: – Nurses have spent a lot of time in the field and must have a wide range of connections with other healthcare professionals. They can help you, as nurse mentors, to use these connections in finding further employment opportunities and can help steer your career in the direction in which you want it to go.
(source) – 5 Benefits of Mentorship in Nursing
A Few Ways In Which Nurses Can Successfully Find Mentors For Themselves
There are many ways in which nurses can go about finding themselves mentors. A few of the most effective ways are listed below:
- Participating in a formal nurse mentoring program: – Plenty of healthcare facilities have their own official mentoring programmes. They connect experienced nurse mentors with junior mentees and make them sign contracts with outline the goals of the mentorship programmes. Many universities in the UK offer nurse mentorship such as the University of Hull and the University of Hertfordshire. The North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is also improving its standards of nurse mentorship programs.
- Talk to teachers who are involved in clinical mentorships: – A lot of times in nursing education today, nursing degree programmes offer the chance to participate in clinical internships which provide practical experience. This provides the opportunity to nursing students to introduce themselves to the teachers in the internships who can act as nurse mentors.
- Find a nurse mentor online: – Social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn have groups dedicated to nursing from which a nurse mentor can be found easily.
- Observe nurses while they are working: – Many healthcare facilities provide nursing students, as a part of nursing education today, the opportunity of observing nurses on the job. Once you find a nurse whom you establish a natural rapport with and whose specialty you wish to work in, you can ask them to become your nurse mentor.
- Speak to the key personnel responsible: – New nurses may struggle to find a nurse mentor if their healthcare facility does not provide them with the opportunity. You should ask other staff members, nurses or the human resources department. They may guide you to unofficial nurse mentoring programmes which are not well publicised.
There are vacancies for A & E Nurses in Mylocum. You can Register Now!
A Few Nurse Mentors Share Their Favourite Mentoring Advice.
A few Nurse Mentors who have been in this niche give words of advice to future mentees or mentors in the nursing industry: –
- ‘’I tell mentees to give him/herself a year to feel mostly acclimated to the routine of the unit.’’ – Nancy F.
- ‘’For mentors: Treat the nurse you are mentoring as a valued colleague, and they will be one for many years.’’ – Karen M.
- ‘’Mentor to mentee: ‘This is how I do it. You may be with different mentors/preceptors, and each of us may do something a little differently. You will figure out what method works best for you.’’ – Lisa D.
- ‘’For mentees: You get out of nursing exactly what you put into it. If you just clock in, work and clock out, you’ll get a pay check. If you plug in — to your patients, families and co-workers — you will find a human experience only a few understand, and will be forever changed.’’ – Jenny N.
- ‘’Mentees, don’t ever be afraid or ashamed to say you don’t know how. We all had to learn and it’s never a bad thing to ask for help. It takes years to know when to run, when to walk and when to just observe. Once you have the years behind you, stay humble.’’ – Florrie M.
Nurses, regardless of their experience level, should remain receptive to being mentored.
There must be nurses with more experience than you have in the industry and they can only add to your knowledge. You can listen to your nurse mentor’s experiences and learn from their mistakes. This can help you have a fast track growth in your career.
Would you like to be a nurse mentor? Then start by learning from the experience nurses to guide you becoming a nurse. Everyone benefits from this and this is a practice which every hospital should adopt.
We, at Mylocum, have vacancies for nurses in a wide range of fields such as Chemo Nurses, Care Coordinator Nurses and General Nurses as well. You can register using the following link: Register Now
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