Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sue West is Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Professor Melanie Jasper is Head of School of Health Science, University of Wales Swansea.

Dr Tim Clark is Senior Lecturer in Nursing and Applied Clinical Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University.

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With current Government targets to increase health and social care practitioners, there is an increased need for informed mentors and preceptors to support the development of the students and new health professionals.

Enabling learning in nursing and midwifery practice: A guide for mentorsseeks to underpin recent mentoring initiatives, exploring the impact of mentoring, supervision and preceptorship on professional practice, covering principles that underpin effective learning and providing practical guidance on mentoring and assessment strategies within practice settings.

Enabling learning in nursing and midwifery practice: A guide for mentorsaddresses the inter-professional and policy context for mentorship, examines the nature of effective learning environments and provides mentors with the necessary tools to assist students in their development within a practice setting. It explores the use of reflective practice, virtual learning and other core resources to enhance and support learning in practice and addresses assessing practice, making correct judgements about student competence and the development of competence in newly qualified practitioners.

Enabling learning in nursing and midwifery practice: A guide for mentorsis an important resource text for practitioners seeking to support learning in practice as well as experienced mentors and preceptors seeking to update their skills and understanding.

Key features

• Evidence-based, practical guide to effective mentoring and preceptorship
• Integrates theory and practice
• Addresses the context of learning in practice and the challenges of clinical supervision
• Promotes understanding of the importance of assessing practice and managing the mentoring process
• Equips mentors to enable students and newly qualified staff to gain confidence and expertise
• Includes activities, points for reflection and examples from practice

Aus dem Klappentext

With current Government targets to increase health and social care practitioners, there is an increased need for informed mentors and preceptors to support the development of the students and new health professionals.

Enabling learning in nursing and midwifery practice: A guide for mentorsseeks to underpin recent mentoring initiatives, exploring the impact of mentoring, supervision and preceptorship on professional practice, covering principles that underpin effective learning and providing practical guidance on mentoring and assessment strategies within practice settings.

Enabling learning in nursing and midwifery practice: A guide for mentorsaddresses the inter-professional and policy context for mentorship, examines the nature of effective learning environments and provides mentors with the necessary tools to assist students in their development within a practice setting. It explores the use of reflective practice, virtual learning and other core resources to enhance and support learning in practice and addresses assessing practice, making correct judgements about student competence and the development of competence in newly qualified practitioners.

Enabling learning in nursing and midwifery practice: A guide for mentorsis an important resource text for practitioners seeking to support learning in practice as well as experienced mentors and preceptors seeking to update their skills and understanding.

Key features

• Evidence-based, practical guide to effective mentoring and preceptorship
• Integrates theory and practice
• Addresses the context of learning in practice and the challenges of clinical supervision
• Promotes understanding of the importance of assessing practice and managing the mentoring process
• Equips mentors to enable students and newly qualified staff to gain confidence and expertise
• Includes activities, points for reflection and examples from practice

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Enabling Learning in Nursing and Midwifery Practice

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this chapter it is expected that the reader will be able to:

Identify the role of the mentor in current contemporary nursing and midwifery practice

Compare the ways in which the role of the mentor has evolved over the last 10 years

Broadly outline the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Standards to Support Learning, with particular attention to the concept of the sign-off mentor

Acknowledge the complexities of mentoring and the need for more formal, structured approaches to mentoring practice.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the concept of mentorship in contemporary health practice, and to outline some of the complexities surrounding policy change in the National Health Service (NHS) and health professional education and how this impacts on mentoring for preregistration students. The chapter is meant to both challenge and be challenging; to challenge particular current policy and at the same time confront the reader.

The key to successful practice learning lies in the level of support and guidance students receive from practitioners and academics, suitably qualified to assess their competence. There is some general confusion and tension surrounding the shift of responsibility for practice learning and practice assessment, from the academic to the practitioner, which came about in the early 1990s. With this came the demise of the clinical teacher and the renaissance of the concept of mentorship in the health professions. Student expectation of their mentors has changed over the last 10 years and as a result contemporary mentoring practice has evolved to encompass the broader elements of learning and teaching.

At the end of the preregistration programme students must be fit for practice, fit for purpose and fit for award. It is unlikely that they will meet these requirements if they do not have a knowledge base that allows them to practise in an informed way; therefore the responsibility on those who are assigned to supporting and guiding students in this is immense. Gone are the days when students only require friendly or emotional support in practice settings, they demand and deserve good quality, appropriately delivered practice learning that challenges the professionals delivering it and develops practice, based on sound theoretical principles. This is a challenge to us all; it is not an optional one, but a requirement of contemporary professional practice.

The notion of mentorship for health professional students is not new and has existed in a variety of forms for a number of years. In nursing, the introduction of the diploma of higher education and the first Project 2000 (United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, 1986) programmes, acted as the driver for ensuring that mentorship became a mainstream activity within the preregistration curriculum. Although there is now some acknowledgement that mentoring is a complex activity, it was introduced in a quiet way, with little fuss. Burnard (1990) eloquently points out that mentorship 'slipped into the folklore of nurse education almost unnoticed and quickly became part of the educational language of the eighties and nineties' (p. 352). Little thought was given at this time to how mentoring would work in practice or, indeed, how it was to be sustained. These aspects have become more important as students' expectations of mentors have increased, alongside the growing numbers of students. In most cases, mentors have a role in assessing students' practice competence; it is not the intention to present the arguments for and against this as they have been rehearsed elsewhere (Andrews and Wallis, 1999; Neary, 2000; Pellatt, 2006), though Duffy's (2004) work on failing students will be of interest to mentors. Duffy clearly feels that the distinction between unsafe practice (in relation to students) and the determination of failure need further exploration, especially in relation to students who are thought of as 'borderline'. In order to safeguard professional standards, and in turn the public, it must be recognized that some students need to fail, but mentors, for a variety of reasons, may be reluctant to do this.

Much has been written about the support mechanisms for students in practice settings, with both qualified staff and students favouring the mentoring approach. There is common agreement that supporting students in practice is an important part of the overall educational process, yet there is little consensus in the literature as to what constitutes support. Since the 1980s there has been a growing body of literature about mentorship in preregistration education and it has been highlighted as the most common, and preferred approach to student support (Andrews and Wallis, 1999; Andrews and Chilton, 2000; Neary, 2000; Pellatt, 2006).

The nature and purpose of mentorship in this context is related to the role of the clinician in providing student support and guidance, and, in many cases, encompasses the activities associated with learning, teaching and the assessment of practice. Although in more recent years, nursing has embraced mentorship alongside other developments, other professions have offered alternatives. There is, however, a common acceptance that the mentoring (or equivalent) of students in practice settings and all that this entails is firmly the responsibility of practitioners.

There are a number of challenges for the future around the support of students in practice settings, including the plethora of language used across the professions to denote someone who takes on a mentoring role, the interchangeable nature of the terms, the lack of acknowledgement of the interprofessional context and the changing nature and pace of health-care delivery.

DEFINING THE TERMS

There is no common view amongst health professionals and the associated regulatory and professional bodies about the most appropriate role title to call someone who is responsible for supporting, guiding and supervising preregistration students in practice. A range of terms are in common use including mentor (nursing, midwifery and teaching), supervisor/mentor (radiography) practice educator (occupational therapy) and practice supervisor/teacher (social work). Mentorship is a term used more often in midwifery, nursing and teacher education than any of the other professions, with little of the supporting literature found in the associated professional journals relating directly to the other health professions (Mulholland etal., 2005).

The English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting/Department of Health (ENB/DH) (DH, 2001) defined a mentor as an individual 'who facilitates learning and supervises and assesses students in the practice setting' (p. 6). More recently this is 'a registrant who has met the outcomes of stage 2 (of the standards for mentors) and who facilitates learning, and supervises and assesses students in practice settings' (NMC, 2006, p. 44). In five years there has been little shift in emphasis except in relation to the more general acceptance of defined standards associated with the role.

In contrast, over the same five-year period the role...