The Skills and Qualities That Mentors Require - Essay Example

The Skills and Qualities that Mentors require in order to be Effective in their Role Module: The Skills and Qualities that Mentors require in order to be Effective in their Role Introduction The mentoring of prospective nurses or other medical practitioners in clinical placements can happen through two approaches. In the first place, the process of mentoring is meant to assist student learning by availing opportunities for them to be able to benefit from supportive learning environments which facilitate individual learning procedures. Also, the process of mentoring is meant to highlight the importance of student professionalism by making it possible for them to acquire and sustain their individual attributes. The notion of mentorship has not always existed in the nursing sector, though it is regarded as an ordinary function in other industries. In business, mentorship is used to direct young or inexperienced professionals through the problems that are common to their favoured careers. Mentors in the healthcare sector are not tasked with actually teaching their mentees new medically-related skills. They are, however, expected to advice, coach and support the mentees through various career-related decisions. By listening to the views and concerns of their mentees and then offering advice, they make it possible for their charges to be able to use their own thinking skills in determining how to solve different challenges. The Qualities of Nursing Mentors According to Mackin, Macera and Jennings (2006) there are five competencies that should be demonstrated by nursing mentors. Mentors, in the first place, ought to have self-knowledge, so as to be able to recognise the best methods to use when disseminating information to their mentees. The mentor also has to have in depth information about the industry so as to be able to understand external as well as internal factors that affect the performance of one’s job (Almada, Carafoli, Flattery, French and McNamara 2004). Other qualities important for mentors include courage and perseverance. Mentors have to encourage their mentees to exhibit creativity even as they are confronted by challenges, as well as ambiguities in the workplace. Mentors should be able to communicate effectively with their charges and cultivate strong interpersonal relationships with them (Mills, Lennon and Francis 2006). It is also important for mentees to only select the mentors who have personal characters that inspire others to strive to be the best that they can be. The individuals who succeed in mentorship duties are those who are able to sustain a partnership that holds both parties to be equal. Efficient mentors imbue their mentees with a sense of support, inclusion and reciprocity (Mills and Mullins 2008). Mentors in the healthcare industry ought to be able to exhibit skills in varied areas like in marketing, human resource management, teaching experience, fiscal management and leadership experience. For the new nurse, having the chance to work with a respected professional from the medical sector as a career guide and sounding board, is vital to the achievement of professional as well as personal development (Parse-Rizzo 2008). Both parties stand to benefit from a professional relationship that is meant to improve the career of the mentee. Another reason why the process of mentoring is so important is because it allows busy units to benefit from additional assistance (Almada, Carafoli, Flattery, French and McNamara 2004). Mentors are able to benefit the larger society by sharing their knowledge with another who will contribute to the betterment of the community. Benefits of Mentoring in the Healthcare Sector Mentorship is an important function that actually improves the performance of different operations (Allen, Day and Lentz 2005). In the present day’s information-saturated society, mentorship is vital for any company to achieve success. The procedure of mentorship among nurses, as well as other medical practitioners, has several far-reaching advantages. For example, it provides the opportunity for organisational departments to be able to assess possible weaknesses within the internal structure and make changes to deal with such weaknesses (Hall 2006). Mentorship is a process that also makes it possible for new students in the healthcare industry to be able to develop more skills which will help them to be more confident when discharging their duties. For example, nurses who are encouraged by their mentors to be more persevering will be more comfortable in handling patients. Mentorship problems can also allow an organisation to be able to recognise, or identify and further develop potential future leaders in the healthcare sector. Having a mentorship program is important for an organisation because it allows the organisation to be able to train its workers according to its own principles. This means that it avails the opportunity to realise extensive compliance all through the industry by means of the improved dispensation of healthcare services; while also enhancing intellectual capital. It is a recognised fact that having mentorship programs is something that can even serve as an efficient recruitment tool for medical facilities (Grossman 2007). Mentoring also allows experienced and non-experienced healthcare workers to be able to incorporate the latest medical practices. The Eye Casualty Department The Eye Casualty Department of any hospital is a busy place that requires healthcare practitioners to work diligently in the interests of assisting patients to heal. In such circumstances, new nurses, or former student nurses who have now graduated, require guidance so as not to be plagued by low morale, or even uninspired job performances. This means that it is up to the senior nurses, most of whom function as mentors, to maintain the acceptable patient care standards. Mentoring helps nurses in the eye casualty department in that the more established nurses benefit from an addition of workers, meaning that they will not be forced to perform so many responsibilities by themselves (Waters 2004). The mentees, on the other hand, will not be overwhelmed by the expectation of their new careers because they will be able to seek the advice of the older nurses. When the senior nurses share their experiences, as well as knowledge with new entrants into the industry, they actually narrow the gap between the challenges that the mentees are forced to confront and their expectations. There is then an opportunity for camaraderie to develop between inexperienced and experienced medical practitioners, as co-workers participate in mutually beneficial mentorship processes (Campbell 2007). The eye casualty divisions of medical institutions are usually run by ophthalmic nurse practitioners. These nurses cater to patients who have varied eye disorders. Ophthalmic nurses are able to identify and also see to cure or eradicate assorted ailments that afflict the human eye. Such disorders may include full or partial blindness, cataracts, glaucoma and eye trauma. According to Barton (2006) ophthalmic nurses are usually responsible for proffering pre-operative care. They also gather the medical histories of patients and conduct pre-operative evaluations, so as to be able to better understand the health profile of their patients. For example, if a patient has an allergy to some substance that will be used during the surgery or for post operative care, the presiding nurse and doctor have a right to know about such facts. Ophthalmic nurses even assist doctors during surgery to maintain sterile environments, while also monitoring the vital organs of the patient (Kaplan, Brown andrilla and Hart 2009). Ophthalmic nurses are also trained to conduct tests on patients in order to assess if they might have other damaging conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. These are lifestyle-related conditions that can worsen the patient’s eyesight. Mentoring in the Eye Casualty Department The senior nurses who work in the eye casualty department have the opportunity to guide the careers of nursing trainees while also trying to correct eye-related problems experienced by their patients. They are the main operators who direct the advancement of the ophthalmic profession as the conduits of principle values, as well as knowledge (Beecroft, Santner, Lacy, Kunzman and Dorey 2006). For student nurses who have clinical placements in ophthalmic environments, it is only through partnership that senior or established workers can influence the way ophthalmic nurses approach their duty to take care of the patients with eye related problems (Carroll 2004). For student nurses, the time for apprenticeship is of vital importance because it is during this time that the trainees will create a foundation for their future in the industry and cement personal patterns of dispensing care that might allow future learning (Halfer, Graf and Sullivan 2008). In the mentorship process, fellowship training is of particular importance because it allows registered the nurses to be able to interact with student nurses Ideally, this reality should be viewed as being a primary objective to be achieved in the course of nursing studies, though, as not every nurse might feel inspired to participate in fellowship training (Cashin and Potter 2006). For any ophthalmic nurse, learning about the various aspects of eye surgery is something of utmost importance (Buddenberg-Fischer and Herta 2006). Nurses in the eye casualty department in any medical institution also have to learn how to manage different types of complications, while keeping open channels of communication with a patient’s relatives and friends (Wolak, McCann, Queen, Madigan and Letvak 2009). Ophthalmic nurses have to teach their patients how to prepare for treatment and deliver healthcare with empathy. They also have to learn that not all problems should be solved through surgery. It is up to them to identify the characteristic which indicate that the patient is in need of more in-depth treatment. The mentoring process calls for registered nurses to exhibit care when training nurses to move from their comfort zones in order to experience important learning curves that will help them to perform medical procedures with more ease (Niehoff 2006). Mentors will be in a position to assess all developments occurring as their charges become accustomed to looking after patients in a healthcare setting. This means that they will have the opportunity to carry out a serious evaluation of each mentee’s healthcare procedures. According to Block, Claffey, Korow and McCaffrey (2005), there are nursing students who have an inborn talent in looking after patients. Their capacity for others is something that was awakened at young ages. Such candidates usually make the best nurses because they already have solid talents that can be built upon (Latham, Hogan and Ringl 2008). Even though individuals with all kinds of personalities can acquire and implement nursing skills, for people with definite personalities, the process is usually much simpler. Nursing mentors also have to be extremely empathetic in order to understand the challenges that their charges may be faced with. In many cases, the eye casualty department is a highly pressurised department. This means that there exist many factors that could disrupt the professional relationship between the mentor and mentee. For example, even though nurses may only have three or four years to understand theoretical concepts on the performance of care-related duties, it is a recognised fact that the material that they are meant to master keeps substantially increasing (Bryant-Lukosius, DiCenso, Browne and Pinelli 2004). Registered nurses may not be able to restrict the time that they allocate to patients so as to cater to concerns of their mentees. That is something that could result in the deterioration of patient safety and care. Mentors also have to be extremely dedicated to their professional relationship with their mentees. This is the only way through which they will be able to teach them some of the more unnoticed ways of operating in a high pressure environment (Gilmour, Kopeikom and Douche 2007). Mentees have to be trained to keep operating at maximum capacity under external as well as internal regulatory pressures. Mentees also have to observe the importance of culture when relating with their mentees. The nursing profession has experienced a lot of cultural diversity in the recent past (Greggs-McQuilkin 2004). However, even with many universities and colleges giving members of Minority groups equal chances at specialising in nursing, nurses from ethnic minority groups still face more problems from those in the mainstream culture where nursing is concerned. According to Barker (2006) many students from Minority cultures are faced with a sense of isolation in their new positions as nurses. The reason for this may be that they are the first members of their families to attain a university education, or degree. This means that they may not have any individual with whom to compare notes about their experience in life (Dyer 2008). Even in Minority families where the student is given support, he or she may sense that even though the family is trying to give as much support as they realistically can, it is still not enough because they may not understand what the individual may be feeling or going through- and, so, cannot share in it (Doerksen 2010). A mentor should be able to understand this reality and seek ways of making the experience of minority nursing students less complicated. Mentors also have to train their mentees on the new ways of communicating with patients in different settings (Tourigny and Pulich 2005). In the past, the populations in many nations had no access to medical knowledge; and, so, had to rely on the opinions of doctors and nurses in all circumstances. At present, though, the presence of the internet has brought a lot of transformation to the way medical practitioners relate with patients. The majority of today’s patients are well informed and educated about different aspects of the disorders that they experience (Persaud 2008). This means that they will naturally have high expectations about the outcomes of their visit to the eye casualty ward. In many circumstances, the pressure brought by the heightened expectations of patients, fear about sustaining the mentor’s professional reputation, the possibilities of litigation and the lack of time, are all factors that cause many registered nurses to shy away from mentoring student nurses (Savrin 2009). Mentors have to understand that engaging in the mentoring experience is something that is likely to expose their weaknesses even if they do not wish for this to happen. The only way to positively affect their mentees’ lives is by stopping to fear the repercussions of their weaknesses being exposed. The most important function, where the mentor-mentee relationship is concerned, is that of communication. Mentors do not just have a responsibility to communicate effectively with mentees so that their charges may understand them and their concepts with ease; they also have to teach and demonstrate to their mentees how to communicate with patients (Richmond 2006). Communication in any health care setting should be conducted with precision, clarity and economy of words. A nursing student has to be taught the importance of hearing his or her words via the ears of his or her patient before uttering them and rapidly modifying their delivery and content for the sake of optimal communication. Any patient in an eye casualty department will be nervous about the procedures that will be conducted on his or her eye. Speaking to the patient in soothing tones before examining or prodding the eye can do a lot to allay the fears of the patient (Scott 2005). Nursing mentors can even school their charges on the importance of sometimes incorporating humour into the whole process. This would be quite appreciated by patients in different circumstances. However, the humour should not be steeped in sarcasm, or anger. Mentors also have to teach nursing trainees on how to deal with established and powerful doctors in the wards to which they are assigned. According to Allen, Day and Lentz (2005) it is quite common for nursing students to feel stupefied at the different procedures that doctors use to treat one particular problem (Hansford and Ehrich 2006). This is something that presents a worthwhile opportunity for nurses to encourage trainees to distil the main treatment principles, so that they come to view the process as professionals and not tradesmen. Conclusion In nursing, the existence of a highly interactive and professional relationship between a student nurse and a mentee is something that is admirable. Mentoring is more of a partnership between an experienced registered nurse and a nursing student, even though the parties hold radically different positions in the healthcare sector. For mentors and in particular, those who work in the healthcare sector, allocating enough time to oversee the progress of a student nurse is always a difficult process. Mentoring is not just something that happens with student nurses. Even registered nurses who wish to work in other departments have to use mentorship programs in order to benefit from additional information about their preferred job positions. Moreover, not all mentoring relationships are fruitful. It is not uncommon for some mentors to use their charges for their own purposes. Prior to establishing a mentoring relationship, it is important for both the mentee and mentor to conduct research on the available mentors before deciding on the best choice. Mentees should also invest a lot of time in testing different possibilities for mentoring relationships in order to arrive at the right choice. There are few individuals who have many of the characteristics that are associated with being a good mentor. Such individuals are usually saddled with responsibilities. This means that nursing students might need to be more proactive when seeking the assistance of such talented persons. References Allen, T.D., Day, R. & Lentz, E. (2005) ‘The role of interpersonal comfort in mentoring relationships’, Journal of Career Development, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 155-169. Almada, P., Carafoli, K., Flattery, J., French, F. & McNamara, M. (2004) ‘Improving the retention rate of newly graduated nurses’, Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 268 –273. Barker, E.R. (2006) ‘Mentoring: a complex relationship’, Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, vol. 18, pp. 56-61. Barton, T.D. 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