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Facets (2002) stated that mentors are individuals in possession of knowledge/ expertise who willingly help another of less experience to learn about the field in which they wish to pursue. Mentoring is a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship between two individuals that must be voluntary in order to function successfully (Morrison-Ebbed et 2001). The mentor supersedes the role model in that there is an open relationship and communication involved. Mentoring is provided by an experienced staff nurse and/or clinical professor (van Peps, Cooke, Greedy, & Walker, 2006).
Works experience is one particular factor for to become as mentor, I am errantly working as a registered nurse since 1 7 years back after finish my diploma of nursing in one of nursing collage. Has experiences a worked in campanology ward for two years, and after that I was attached to the operating theatre till now. I have attend mentoring COOL_Jeers three years ago, for become competent as a mentor in my work places, beside that I also local preceptor for pediatric surgery unit.
My workplace is infect ideal for learning process as there are great facilities that have been provided to ensure all staff working in a comfortable and practical area. Computer are provided for the Taft to enable them performing or learn new things regarding their task through online education. The orientation package and local preceptor mentor also have been provided to teach and supervise the new staff. There are also weekly presentation, operation workshop and demonstration on the technique used to handle the equipment’s that organized by the hospital.
In addition, my learner, is a newly qualify nurse graduate in Diploma of Nursing from Nursing College, Ministry of Health, Malaysia (appendix 1). Based on her record, this is the first task that she will be carried as she has no any working experience before. I have been entrusted to be the mentor for her and as the Head Nurse explain about myself, the rules regarding the portfolio and the mentors programmer to her, we reach the decision to be the mentor and minute for each other. Only then, the mentor-minute consent letter been created for the purpose of this assignment (appendix AAA).
My learner, named Aisha Bet Rossi (pseudo name) and I will just address her as Aisha in this assignment. As a mentor, do realized she required a great deal of support and guidance from myself, so that she can provide the best service and treat to all of the patients. Within this paper of work I will give illumination in facilitating others learning along my knowledge and skill with proper understanding, planning, implementation and evaluation. Identifying learning needs, planning and managing the student experience The first thing, I brief Aisha when she posted as my minute is regarding all of the rules and situation in my workplace.
She need to know that the surrounding and the management of the operating room is totally different from the surrounding at the ward. Also brief her about the orientation session (appendix 3). The orientation session is indeed vital to help her to feel sees anxiety, more confident and determined to serve and treat the patients with the best quality. As for the orientation, I explain to her about the regulation that one need to always keep in mind, the TOT layout and also the scope of work so that she can be well prepared to receive all of the input during her practice.
According to Race and Walker (2003) it is important for educators to know where they want students to finish and what they want them to learn. That way they know when the students have got there. They also suggest that the choice of teaching style can vary but common rules for inconsideration apply; in particular the objective set for students to achieve and the number of students being taught. Thus, in my own opinion, I should well managed a planner and my way of teaching to ensure the teaching process would help her to adapt well with the surrounding and way of performing tasks in the unit.
After the orientation session, as a mentor, I feel it is necessary to have a two Way communication so that Can know her interest and learning needs. Hence, ask her to voice out anything that she want to tell me, so that she can be a better staff in the future. Thus, she told me that he still cannot grab the real idea of working in the TOT because when she was still a student, she only practice transferring the patients to the TOT. Aisha told me that she is not confident enough and feel scared to perform all the tasks in the TOT because she thinks she has too little knowledge of managing the unit.
As being mentioned by Hoffman & Lenin (2004), a student nurse with a low level of confidence may limit their involvement with practical skills, and patient and staff interaction thus reducing learning opportunities and limiting the possibility of self-confidence growth. Lethal and Fay (2006) state that urging students often experience a lack Of self-confidence and hesitation when faced with increased responsibility and accountability for patient’s health. Thus, I feel responsible to help and gave her greater support to reduce her anxiety and gain her self-confidence. Remises her that I will provide all the reference materials that she asks and will always kick upon her so that she can learn more under my supervision. Besides, after the discussion session with Aisha, I found that she already show some interest to be working in the TOT, but the only problem is her low self-confidence. So, reasonably think she will do better with my guidance and do believe her confidence will increase slowly both on a clinically professional level and personally.
I also advise her to refer and approach other staff if I was not around to confirm herself that she was not doing anything incorrectly and to improve confidence in her skill level. It also will be better if she can try to relate all the theory that she has learned at the college with the task that she practice in the TOT. Also told her that some of the information that needed for some cases are not available at the unit, so it is most likely suggested to reach all the information through online learning.
Kola (1984) considers individuals’ approaches using the Learning Styles Inventory, in which four stages of learning requiring specific learning abilities are identified. Thus, during the development of Ayah’s learning session, I think it will be beneficial for both side if know her preferred learning styles, so that can match it with my teaching styles. I believe that, the effective way Of teaching is to match the learning styles of students with the Way We teach, so that the student will be able to receive the input and use it well for their wan improvement.
Based on Kola’s theories, Honey and Uniform (1986) developed the Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSI) and suggest four basic learning styles such as the activist, reflector, theorist and pragmatist. While everyone has a mix of learning styles, some people have a dominant style of learning, with far less use of the other styles. Hence, based on the questionnaire given to Aisha (appendix), I found that Ayah’s learning style is more toward the reflector and pragmatist learning style.
Honey and Uniform (1986) stated that those person with reflector learning styles are ore likely a conscientious person but hard to get started and also those with pragmatist learning style are the one that favors independence and could undertake more research. According to the result, I try to assign a task, so that she can work on that topic and at the same time increase her clinical and interpersonal skills. Aisha agree to be responsible as the reception nurse and also handle things regarding admission of patients at the counter.
By performing this task, Aisha can actually have clearer idea and understand more about the job as a reception nurse (Appendix 5). I decide to give her eave her one set of questionnaire for pre-test before she perform the task. This is vital to evaluate Ayah’s knowledge about the topic. After the assessment session, Aisha was given the same of questionnaire regarding the topic for her post-test (appendix 6). From the pre-test and post-test result, I can analyses the level of Ayah’s knowledge before and after the task given.
I decide to do the teaching lesson for about two weeks and I believe can achieve my objective Of doing the session in that period Of time. I sincerely hope that Aisha can understand well about the task of a reception nurse, member all of the rules and regulations, improve her communication skills, have a clear idea about the importance of the preoperative checklist and can perform her work well without any support and help from anyone (appendix 7) Facilitating learning and assessment A reception nurse should assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records.
They may advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. This is likely to be the basic things that Aisha need to know before she is posted to another unit or tasks. Mitchell and Fling (2008) mentioned that another key member of the theatre team is the scrub nurse, who works directly with one or more surgeons while they are operating on the patient.
The traditional responsibilities of the scrub nurse include ensuring that they are correctly ‘scrubbed up’, preparation of the instruments, trolleys and sterile supplies needed for the surgery, maintaining a sterile environment, providing skilled assistance to the surgeon during the operation, and performing the swab/instrument count at the end of the procedure (Taylor &Campbell Bibb). All of the tasks are not as easy as it heard to be. This is all because the job is too risky. We need to be aware that sometime there will be a case where the staff is not doing any mistakes, but the patients itself.
It is always happen where the patients consent not complete and the fasting period for patient that will undergo operation not properly followed by the patients. So, as a nurse, we need to always stay alert with any possible incident that will occur. Quasi F. (2012) stated that instructors must keep their lessons precise and concise, allowing students to concentrate on the vital concepts rather than memorizing a long list of facts and figures or large sections of a text. The approach of giving lecture, performing demonstrations and doing some discussion were included in the learning session.
During performance of my demonstration, I explained carefully to Aisha, so that she can give fully attention and understand each of explanation. After done with my demonstration, ask Aisha to perform her return demonstration to test her understanding. Demonstration of skill techniques will facilitate her intellectual and observational skill, while return demonstration that she perform enable her to have some experience to practice and develop her psychometric skills. I told Aisha that she can ask anything that she not understand so that she can confirm herself, she is not doing anything incorrectly.
It is important to know about her mental and physical conditions, knowledge, feelings and her problem through this learning session. So, conduct a discussion session to let her express her feeling and opinion regarding the mentor-minute programmer and also my way of teaching. From the session, I found out that Aisha has already gain her self-confidence, she became less nervous if she was to assigned to any tasks, and also she manage to develop her knowledge about the information that have given to her.
Learning session will be more effective if the learner discover and understand the content of the learning. Did some explanation regarding the communication skills between the personal involve in the operation theatre. Pennington (1994) asserts that good teamwork provides the solid foundation for achievement and when taking into account the variety of staff making up the multidisciplinary team in an operating theatre it becomes apparent that effective communication is an essential skill.
For example, the count should be undertaken aloud, with both participants confirming numbers of swabs and sharps in use or discarded. A running total should be kept on a whiteboard in clear view of the scrub nurse to record the count. The scrub nurse is then able to confirm to the surgeon, when necessary, that nothing has been lost. I also mentioned about the patient flow before undergo the operation, preoperative checklist and also the responsible of a nurse in handling the admission and transferring patients. Nelson et al. (2009) stated that the risk for caregiver injury has been increased by the rising number of morbidly obese (barbaric) patients seeking health care. In addition to risks to the caregiver, unsafe patient-handling raciest can contribute to patient injury, associated with “drops and drags,” that is, fall-related injuries during patient transfers or skin tears and lesions associated with sheer force as a patient is pushed/pulled across a surface. Gospel(2008) mentioned that the major component of the mentor’s role is to teach clinical skill.
He also mentioned about the characteristics such as being patient, open – minded and approachable. The mentor should have a good knowledge base and be up to date in their knowledge and practical skills. After three days of learning session, I found out that Aisha cannot relate teen the theory and practical. Thus, decide to use the reflection method to help her overcome the problem. Reflection method is indeed a helpful method if the learner cannot apply known theories or technique with practical. Reflection also can improve quality of care and stimulate personal and professional growth.
The ultimate goal for nursing students is to obtain a level of confidence that is equivalent to a students skill level, therefore allowing students the ability to work within their scope of practice safely and yet maintain the ability to reflect on areas that require further knowledge, raining and/or practice without causing harm to current levels of confidence (Edwards, Smith, Courtney, Financial, & Chapman, 2004). Learning diaries ha: been provided for Aisha to ensure her work will be more organized (appendix 8).
I also give to Aisha hand out as hand out can perform a vital role in conveying information. Besides, I also entrust one of my experienced colleague as 2nd mentor, to help monitor and supervise Aisha if I am not around. On the other hand, research has suggested that the mentor- minute relationship is key to a supportive learning environment ( Earns, 1995; Gray, 2000). It is totally suggested for the mentor and minute to develop a good and strong relationship to enable the learning session becoming more effective. The major part of the formative assessment is the feedback.
To ensure that all feedback from the Aisha are positive, have conducted the regular meeting and discussion session with her (appendix 9). All the information, feedback will directly inform and discuss together. I also perform the assessment to ensure that we achieved the objective of Ayah’s learning session. I found that, most of the objectives successfully achieved with the great development of Ayah’s skills and knowledge. She successfully reinforced her knowledge and skills but more importantly developed her self- confidence.
Through reflection, practice, repetition, the use of a mentor and awareness of factors that affect her confidence , she was able to confidently complete the appropriate nursing interventions. Provide ongoing support and guidance for learners After we perform the assessment in the learning session, feel that this clinical placements can be an extremely stressful and challenging for Aisha especially when it is the very first time that she has been placed for a practice after graduating from college.
Hence, it is necessary to provide a continuous support and great guidance from a mentor for her to be more determine in performing her practice. It is supported by the fact that Morton-cooper and Palmer ( 1998 ) have highlighted that the mentor, academic staff and peers as major sources of support for student nurses whilst on clinical placement. As I have been trying to develop a good and strong relationship with Aisha, I found that she has become more open to share her problem with me, she manage to voice out her opinion and also she tend to give me the feedback for the learning session that I have gone through with her.
Aisha told me about evaluate of experience while I was facilitating her. Both of us had filled up two different units of evaluation forms (appendix 10) Through reflection method, I manage to do some analysis on the appropriate type of support and supervisor that I have already gave to Aisha. It is needed for me to give her the most adequate support, so that she can learn everything effectively. M satisfied because during her placement, Aisha, not only get the support from myself, but also her colleague, senior staff nurses and friends. Have participate in a meeting with the educational partnerships and the facilitators, cost of their comment based on my teaching session totally makes me feel happy as they mention indeed all the practice that I have given to Aisha show development and undoubtedly an vivified way of practice. They also proud with the development of Ayah’s skills and performance.
Summary of personal and professional development in mentors A mentor should encourage their students and demonstrate concern, compassion and empathy. I feel honored to have been given the opportunity to complete this assignment. Through this assignment, am able to have clearer idea about he mentors programmer, learning session, acquired knowledge’s of learning styles and teaching strategies that can apply all of the information’s that have gain in my own practice.
I am grateful to be able to be the mentor for Aisha and help her develop her skills and knowledge. Aisha was given a set questionnaire to evaluate my mentors skills in teaching her. In addition, also appreciate the moment that I have spent doing this assignment as it can help to enhance my mentors skills and also help the students that need the support and guidance to go through their hardship especially during their placement.