The Nursing and Midwifery Council

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2008b) states a mentor is a registered nurse who aims to facilitate learning, supervises and assesses students in the practice environment. Darling (1984a) identified the expected roles of a mentor, which included that of a role model, coach, teacher, supporter, problem solver, giver of feedback, challenger and investor. In addition to this, Gopee (2007) offered a list of desirable characteristics, such as approachability, a sound knowledge base, patience, open mindedness, good teaching skills, self-motivation, and the ability to provide psychological support, tact, confidence, diplomacy, honesty, trustworthiness, versatility, flexibility, and willingness to be a mentor.

In order to complete the Supporting Learning and Assessment in Practice module of The Defence Nursing Degree I mentored John, a 3rd year nursing student. I have decided to focus this reflection on how I acquainted John with the unit and conducted an initial interview.

I met and introduced myself to John when I arrived on the late shift of his first long day on the unit and then proceeded to introduce John to the rest of the multidisciplinary team. I was working a supernumery shift that day which meant I had time to conduct John's initial placement interview. We then talked about John's previous placements and nursing experiences. John explained how he had already completed several placements and was now in his 3rd year of study. John went on to tell me how the quality of his previous student experiences had varied, describing his positive experiences during one placement as being shown respect, welcomed as part of the team, and being given the right level of responsibility and supervision. In contrast, John then described another placement as a very negative experience. He stated that little interest was shown in him and his ideas were often rejected or he was made to feel they were invalid. He received limited support to carry out tasks and was subject to very out-dated professional views held by his mentor. I then assured John I would try to work with him as much as possible and on the occasions I would be unable to there would be a support mentor allocated to work with him.

We then read through John's placement booklet to establish what competencies needed to be met. I also asked John what he would like to achieve from the placement. We then formulated a learning contract together of how we would meet the competencies and John's personal aims. The contract objectives and aims included three areas for development. In addition to this, John had identified wound dressing as a clinical skill that provoked anxiety, but one that he wished to address during this placement. Following the decision to focus on the learning of the aforementioned clinical skill, John and I discussed different learning styles. I then asked John to complete the Honey and Mumford (2006) Learning Styles