Mentorship for Nursing and Healthcare Students: A Comprehensive Guide

2. Resource for: Stage 1, Stage 2 mentor preparation and ongoing annual Mentor Updates. • 10 Chapters: • Chapter 1: Mentorship – an overview. • Chapters 2 – 9: • Each chapter explores a specific domain and the associated outcomes for Stage 1 and Stage 2 mentors, (NMC, 2008). • Each chapter includes: • Mentor Activities, • Scenarios, • Questions / Answers. • Chapter 10: The Mentors’ lived experiences.

3. Kinnell, D., Hughes, P. (2010) Mentoring Nursing and Healthcare Students. London, Sage. • The book focuses on the process and generic aspects of mentorship as applied to nursing, midwifery and allied professions students. • The predominant framework explored throughout relates to the eight domains of mentorship for nurses and midwives (NMC, 2008). However, this is contrasted with the regulations identified by the Health Professions Council (2007). • The three main approaches examined include: • Facilitation of learning, • Assessment and accountability, and • Creating an environment for learning.

4. Chapter 1: Mentoring nursing and healthcare students – David Kinnell. • The development of mentorship. • Mentor Standards / Mentor Domains. • The benefits associated with mentorship. • The Mentor’s Developmental Framework: • The four stages of the mentor’s role. • The Nursing and Midwifery Council and • The Health Professions Council regulations. • Research into mentorship. • What do mentors expect from students? • The most significant attributes of a mentor.

5. Chapter 2: How can the mentor assist the student to become part of the healthcare team? - David Kinnell. • Mentorship is challenging, rewarding, satisfying but at times somewhat frustrating. • The mentor’s role in team working. • What makes an effective healthcare team? • Establishing effective working relationships: • Intra-personal variables: attitudes, emotions and the self-concept. • What qualities and skills make an effective mentor? • The importance of interprofessional learning.

6. Chapter 3: Facilitating the learning of healthcare students – David Kinnell and Philip Hughes. • Facilitation of learning in healthcare. • The healthcare student. • Approaches to teaching. • Theories of learning: cognitivism, learning styles, humanism and behaviourism. • Educational taxomomies. • Teaching styles used in practice placements. • The teaching environment. • Support for students in practice – the mentor’s roles and responsibilities.

7. Chapter 4: Assessing healthcare students using a five-dimensional approach to assessment – David Kinnell. • The need for assessment in healthcare. • A five-dimensional model of assessment that can be applied to all healthcare students: • Rationale for an effective assessment. • The components of assessment: cardinal criteria. • The process of assessment: types, approaches. • Evaluation of learning: criterion-referencing. • Feedback and Action Plan. • The complexities of assessment: assessment bias, the subjectivity and objectivity debate.

8. Chapter 5: Evaluating the effectiveness of mentorship – David Kinnell. • Process of evaluation: feedback of practice learning. • Student evaluation of placement. • The process of feedback. • Review students’ evaluation comments. • Why do students evaluate the way that they do? • Evaluation bias: intra-personal / inter-personal factors. • The quality of the learning environment. • The need for educational audits. • Implementing appropriate changes. • Practice Learning Teams – supporting mentors.

9. Chapter 6: What makes an ‘effective’ placement for healthcare students? – David Kinnell. • What makes an ‘effective’ learning environment? • The practice learning environment. • The effectiveness of mentorship influences student’s perception of the practice placement. • Attentional processes associated with role modelling: characteristics of the role model – the mentor. • Retention processes associated with role modelling: • The process of memory - encoding, storage and retrieval of information. • Motor reproduction processes: assessing practical skills and student’s motivation to learn. • Availability of a range of resources: enhancing students’ learning in the practice placement.

10. Chapter 7: The practice context in healthcare settings – David Kinnell. • Supporting learning within the context of practice. • Welcoming the student to the practice placement: • The preliminary interview, • The intermediate interview, and • The final interview and review of placement. • Responding to academic changes in the practice setting. • The essential skills clusters for nursing and midwifery – Common Foundation / Branch Programme. • Equality and diversity in contemporary healthcare – disability equality training / awareness, making ‘reasonable’ adjustments in practice.

11. Chapter 8: Evidence-based practice and mentorship – David Kinnell. • The importance of appreciating evidence-based practice – the emergence of clinical governance. • Evidence-based practice in healthcare: protocols. • Mentors advocating research awareness. • Evidence-based practice in nursing, midwifery and for the allied professions: • The research process – research identifies and responds to a gap in the literature. • Types of research: qualitative / quantitative data. • Research evidence generated from the process. • Implications for healthcare: the mentors’ and students’ experiences of mentorship – research findings.

12. Chapter 9: Leadership, an integrated role within mentorship – David Kinnell and Philip Hughes. • Leadership within healthcare. • Potential plan of the student’s learning experiences. • Valuing the role of senior students – the ‘Buddy System’ or equivalent process. • Styles of leadership. • Managing change in contemporary healthcare. • Leadership skills for mentors: • Mentor preparation courses, • Annual mentor updates, • Triennial reviews, • Sign-off mentorship – starts in 2010.

13. Chapter 10: The mentors’ experiences of mentorship – David Kinnell. • The experience of mentorship – the mentors’ lived experiences. • ‘What has becoming a mentor meant to you as a person and as a nurse?’ – research question. • 8 nurse mentors involved in a research study using a qualitative phenomenological research approach. • Six of the eight key elements identified are explored: • Achieving acceptability, Achievement, • Commitment, • Creating an effective learning environment, • Responsibility, and Self-efficacy.

14. Mentor Updates, (NMC, 2008, p.30). • The purpose of annual updating is to ensure that mentors: • Have current knowledge of NMC approved programmes. • Are able to discuss the implications of changes to NMC requirements. • Have an opportunity to discuss issues related to mentoring, assessment of competence and fitness for safe and effective practice. • Throughout the book each chapter includes mentor activities, scenarios, questions and answers that could be used as part of a mentor update. • Whatever type of annual Mentor Update a mentor attends must be recorded on the Mentor Database that is held by the practice providers.

15. Reference: • Standards to support learning and assessment in practice: NMC standards for mentors, practice teachers and teachers, • (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2008).