Role of the Mentor When Evaluting Student Learning - Essay Example

?Introduction The fact that nursing need holistic development for the overall benefit of the healthcare industry cannot be over d. One of the ways through which the stakeholders have sought to achieve this has been through providing nursing students with an opportunity to gain clinical experience (Theobald and Mitchel 2002). Through this, the students are able to interact with patients; hence developing technical expertise at the numerous nursing procedures, interpersonal and communication skills that altogether make nursing work much easier, satisfying and of high quality to the patient (Banning et al. 2006). Clinical placement is, thus, an opportunity to practice the theoretical knowledge gained by the nursing students in the regular classroom work. This experience in nursing students’ life is perhaps best enhanced through providing them with mentorship programs. Such programs provide students with the relevant guidance, much needed support and the required supervision during the clinical placement period (Panther 2008). This study seeks to discuss critically the role of mentors in evaluating nursing students’ learning. A brief overview of the concept of mentorship in nursing will be discussed, followed by a discussion of their importance in a student’s development before arrival at a conclusion based on the study. Overview of Mentorship in Nursing In the UK and around the developed world, mentorship is a concept that formally emerged in the 1980s, describing the guidance relationship between a nursing student in clinical placement and a more experienced individual. According to the DOH (2001), mentorship refers to the role played by the nurse or the midwife in facilitation of the learning experience, supervision and assessment of student nurses in the setting of clinical practice. Mentors are the individuals in direct contact with student nurses in the clinical setting and, thus, occupy the best position to assess student nurses’ clinical capabilities. By extension, they are also the best placed to guide the students in reaching their learning goals (Elcigil and Sari 2008). Based on the provisions of the NMC (2006), mentors must be registered with the NMC alongside the student(s) they are handling. Besides, mentors must also have completed an approved preparatory program to provide the best mentorship to the students. The NMC values the experiential knowledge borne by mentors as a way of enhancing the professional and clinical expertise development of the student nurses; hence the decision to formalise and clearly define mentorship. In 2008, the NMC published a mentorship code specifying the importance of mentorship programs in supporting the needs of student nurses in terms of professional development (NMC 2008). The formal roles of mentors according to the NMC involve guiding students in the multidisciplinary clinical environment to ensure seamless transfer once they are finally ready to join the clinical setting (Kinnell and Hughes 2010). The mentors also assess the learning undertaken by the student nurses. Hence, they are indispensable in the evaluation of student nurses. The Roles of Mentors According to the NMC (2008), the mentor helps the students to identify and achieve the learning objectives of the clinical placement. Through experience and the training they have undertaken, mentors are in a position to guide the student through learning requirements during the placement. This involves explaining the learning objectives and ensuring the student nurses are aware of the learning outcomes. After helping students to understand the learning objectives, the mentors then ensure that the desired learning activities take place. This is through activities such as coordinating the learning needs of the students- for instance, through helping them to draw learning timetables. They also ensure students’ comprehension through linking the theory already borne by the students with what is now practiced. Another way to achieve this is through encouraging reflective practice on learning/practice experiences so as to ensure the student grasps the taught concepts. An example of such reflective practice is through Gibbs Reflective Cycle (Jasper 2003). In this, the student nurse describes an experience in the clinical setting, explains their feelings on the situation, evaluates the favourable and unfavourable aspects about the experience, analyses the experience in detail and concludes on it before deciding an action plan in case a similar experience occurs in the future. Besides reflection, the mentor also identifies the learning opportunities and ensures that students take advantage of these to enhance their clinical skills. This role- helping students identify and achieve learning objectives- is a weighty concept of mentorship since the students are away from their regular lecturers and academic advisors. Upon further analysis, this role is crucial since the mentor is to assess the students later. Having been part of the student’s learning experience; the mentor is then better placed to undertake the role of assessment. One of the most notable roles of a mentor lies in the establishment of a supportive learning environment for the student nurses (NMC 2006). The clinical environment is a considerably radical shift from the lecture hall one. Thus, students may find it difficult to learn properly in this new setting. Some of the challenges experienced in the clinical setting include workplace bullying in the form of vertical and horizontal violence which have negative impacts on learning. For instance, the unfortunate occurrence i.e. horizontal violence results in distress, lack of motivation, burnout and poor retention of nurses (Grossman 2007). Thus, the mentor plays a pivotal role in eradicating the problems that could take away from the learning experience. This involves establishing and maintaining a mutual mentor-student relationship in which the student can consult and air concerns while the mentor can communicate as necessary (Panther 2008). Upon critical analysis, this is an extremely significant role of a mentor based on the view that certain salient and discernible barriers to student learning may be at work in the clinical setting. The experience possessed by the individual in the mentorship position coupled with the fact that mentors operate in the clinical setting makes them the best suited to create the best environment for learning. The NMC (2008) also requires that mentors participate in the formative and summative assessment and evaluation of student nurses’ learning experience. Mentors have the responsibility of evaluating the clinical competencies of student nurses as learnt during the clinical placement experience. The mentor first ensures that the students have completed the required amount of hours under the mentorship program. A lot of weight lies on the role of the mentor in assessment of students learning due to a number of reasons. First, the competence of student nurses directly relates to patient safety- positive assessment of students who have failed compromises the safety of patients and, thus, reduces the quality of healthcare delivery (Duffy 2004). Proper assessment is also a professional undertaking, benefiting all stakeholders- the students themselves, the mentor, the nursing education system and the hospital setting. For this reason, this study focuses on the important role of the mentor in evaluation of student nurses’ learning. The first aspect of evaluation under discussion is continuous assessment. According to RCN (2009), continuous assessment of student nurses under clinical placement is beneficial since it enables the measurement of student progress as per the level and expected knowledge according to the stage of training. The concept of continuous assessment during the placement involves the mentor monitoring the daily activities undertaken by the student. Engaging in periodic discussions is also an indispensable aspect of continuous assessment as it enables the mentor to discern progress, problems being encountered. This would enable the mentor to institute interventions where necessary in order to achieve the desirable learning outcomes. Continuous assessment also involves documentation of the student’s progress in order to aid the overall evaluation of the student as well as to track properly their progress. The mentor can approach continuous assessment in a formal or informal manner. Besides evaluating the knowledge and expertise gained, the mentor also evaluates the professional behaviour shown by the student. This involves aspects such as the student’s attitude towards work, spirit of teamwork and caring skills, appearance and motivation. Assessment for professional development should also involve evaluating the student’s reaction to the clinical environment challenges, ability to integrate within the multidisciplinary setting that is increasingly becoming a defining characteristic of healthcare delivery. Upon analysis, the importance and relevance of continuous assessment for student nurses is verified. This is because it shows active involvement of the mentor in the student’s development. Continuous assessment also allows for an informal approach (RNC 2009), which can be useful in detecting salient problems such as covert bullying. It also provides for use of constructive feedback that will help mentees to achieve their learning objectives (Devis and Butler 2004). An intermediate interview with the student nurse is a formal approach to assessment as set by the NMC (2008). One of the responsibilities of the mentor is to establish a structured time frame with the student that will specify the initial meeting, intermediate and final interviews. Similar outcomes for the continuous assessment occur for the intermediate interview but in this case in a formalised manner. Panther (2008) states that the mentor has to ensure that there is evidence of learning to have taken place commensurate to objectives, or an already developed action plan. This means that the mentor has to establish the achievement of the learning outcomes set to be achieved by the time the intermediate interview takes place. Examples of aspects of this assessment involve the student’s expertise of handling given situations. Has the student been able to link theoretical knowledge and practice? How have the practical skills of the student developed during the placement period preceding the intermediate assessment? What about the student’s professional development? Panther (2008) further highlights the importance of appropriate documentation of the intermediate assessment. It should be properly recorded in the student’s practice documentation. An important element of the intermediate assessment is ensuring the student is in the desired path. The mentor may be called upon to be critical of the student’s performance so far. Here, the mentor is objective and constructive, ensuring the students understand the problem at hand and how they can improve. An analysis of the mentor’s role during the intermediate interview assessment serves to underpin its importance. Its formal nature contributes to the overall assessment of the competence of the student nurse. As a standout/landmark part of the student’s clinical placement experience, the intermediate assessment helps to re-focus and stress on development in a manner that continuous evaluations may not achieve. This is because constant efforts from the mentor may be accompanied by disregard from the mentee. However, the episodic nature of the intermediate assessment may result in arriving at conclusions on the competence of students based on one off performances (Gopee 2008). This may lead to either passing incompetent students or failing competent ones. Conclusion The mentor has influential responsibilities in the experiential and professional development of a student nurse. This can be seen in the mentor’s role in helping establish learning objectives and achieve them through guidance and establishing the right environment for learning. Besides this, the mentor is a hugely influential figure in the student’s assessment. Formal or informal continuous assessment involves the mentor actively engaging the student on a day-to-day basis. On the other hand, intermediate interviews provide for formal assessment. They are a landmark in the student’s clinical placement experience during which the student’s progress can be established. Aspects of such evaluation involve establishing whether the student is able to link theoretical knowledge with practice and evaluation of their professional development. Critical analysis of the intermediate interview form of assessment reveals that it is highly significant in re-focusing the student towards the learning objectives or action plan. It also offers a chance for the mentor to provide relevant feedback to the student to help with the rest of their development. On the flipside, it is a one off activity, which if unaccompanied by continuous assessment may result in incorrect evaluation of the student. The conclusion is that mentors play a hugely influential role in intermediate assessment. References Banning et al. 2006, “Student learning in care homes”, Nursing older people, vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 22-24. Davis, K and Butler, J 2004, “Assessment of a study day to recognise the value of mentors”, Nursing Practice, vol. 100, no. 2, pp. 36-37. DOH 2001, Preparation of mentors and teachers: A new framework for guidance, DOH, UK. Elcigil, A and Sari, HY 2008, “Students' opinions about and expectations of effective nursing clinical mentors”, Journal of Nursing Education, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 118-23. Gopee, N 2008, Mentoring and supervision in healthcare, SAGE, London. Grossman, SC 2007, Mentoring in nursing: A dynamic and collaborative process, Springer Publishing, UK. Jasper, M 2003, Beginning reflective practice: Foundations in nursing and health care, Nelson Thornes, Cheltenham. Kinnell, D and Hughes, P 2010, Mentoring nursing and healthcare students, SAGE, UK. NMC 2006, Standards to support learning and assessment in practice: NMC standards for mentors, practice teachers and teachers, NMC, UK. NMC 2008, The Code: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives, NMC, UK. Panther, AW 2008, “Professional development and the role of mentorship”, Nursing Standard, Vol. 22, no. 42, pp. 35-39. RCN 2009, Guidance for mentors of nursing, RCN, London. Theobald, K and Mitchel, M 2002, “Mentoring: improving transition to practice”, Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 27-34. Read More