Last month, I was preparing to travel to Atlanta for a work-related event, where I would have the opportunity to meet new nurses and have some time to catch up with colleagues, mentors, and mentees. This trip came shortly after National Nurses Day (May 6), where I had taken a moment to reflect and mindfully thank the nursing friends and mentors I have personally had over the years.
As I waited for my flight, I picked up a magazine at the airport and-all too coincidentally-came across an article, titled "10 Reasons Why a Mentor Is a Must." Although this article was written by an entrepreneur, the list was spot-on if applied to nurses too. The article stressed that mentorship aims to foster both professional and personal growth and development. In my mind's eye, this validated the thought that mentorship within the plastic and aesthetic nursing realm helps novice and seasoned colleagues alike to problem solve, encourage, create, and provide insights while supporting one another.
I bookmarked this article because it reinforces what I have believed for years and what my very own plastic surgery nursing mentors (past society presidents Claudette Heddens and Pat Terrell) instilled in me for optimal growth personally and professionally: It is critically important for all nurses (I mean it: regardless of age, practice, specialty, gender, background, etc.) to have a mentor; and, subsequently, to pay it forward mentoring others in our nursing profession.
The following "mentor musts" are a few of the highlights from the aforementioned article intermixed with my own reflections of what I have gleaned and applied to my own professional life. Please take a moment or two to ponder your own thoughts and why these "mentor musts" should be integrated into your own plastic or aesthetic nursing practice:
1. Mentors provide information and knowledge. Like many of you, my first day on the job was terrifying! I had no idea what I was in for, nor truly grasped the real responsibility that we as nurses should feel towards our patients and their families. It is not something we learn in a textbook, but something that requires on-the-job coaching. With a mentor there from the start, I tapped into a wealth of knowledge, insight, and wisdom that got me up to speed faster, shortened the learning curve, and developed me into where I professionally evolved today.
2. Mentors can be connectors. In a sense, mentors have a "double role" as both teacher and connector. Chances are that a mentor has been practicing the art and science of nursing far longer than his or her mentee; that said, mentors can provide a network of access-to people, resources, knowledge, and tools that can robustly fuel a mentee's professional growth.I met my significant mentors through our very own plastic surgery nursing society while I was a new Scientific Sessions Planning Committee (SSPC) member, and they were in leadership (Pat Terrell was a past president and SSPC Chair and Claudette Heddens was president-elect). They willingly communicated not only their wisdom and insights to me but also graciously took me under their wings and shared their professional networks and engaged with me at meeting events-introducing me to many opportunities I would not have otherwise had. They were both a constant source of reinforcement and gentle encouragement.
3. Mentors find ways to stimulate our personal and professional growth. As nurses, our learning never ends! Every single day, there are innovations in medicine, technology, policies, and procedures-a continuous variety of improvements. Mentors inevitably find ways to trigger our passion and "hunger" to learn.Speaking from my personal experience, my mentors would oftentimes present me with challenging opportunities, then let me loose to see if I could accomplish them on my own, while assessing and observing how these projects helped me develop. They would make it a priority to spend time with me and tell me what they observed, what good habits and skills I put into practice, and what I could immediately improve upon (or what bad habits to throw out!). At the same time, they focused on building character and values, which nurtured my personal growth as well as my leadership abilities.Most important, I have learned that mentors can uncannily empower, inspire, and engage with the mentee. Speaking from experience, to have a mentor pave the way for professional growth is nothing but a positive attribute, both professionally and personally.
4. Mentors offer encouragement and help keep us going. Oprah Winfrey once stated, "A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself."As nurses, our jobs are taxing-on our minds, our bodies, our families, and our emotions. At times, or when internalized, this profession can even be frustrating, even discouraging. That is where mentors come in: They are the foundation of encouragement and moral support (with a heavy dose of cheerleading!). Like many of you, I have had much frustration and many tiresome late nights where I could have easily unraveled or given up. However, I had strong mentors who provided those few extra words of wisdom and that little pat on the back, which gave me a fresh impetus to continue and go forward and not give up. Those remarkable women always provided never-failing sound encouragement and guidance (that I can still hear today!) that gave me the hope and confidence to do whatever was asked of me.
Overall, I concluded from the article that if it were not for the motivation and inspiration of mentors, it would be our team members or our patients and their families who would ultimately pay the price for our lack of confidence or job satisfaction. Mentoring should be the cornerstone of our profession, where we, as experienced plastic and aesthetic nurses, are involved in the give and take of information-knowledge, guidance-support, and teaching-learning with another, less experienced nursing colleague. Indeed, mentorship cannot be seen or touched. It is simply a powerful and wonderful enriching experience, which can be best described by those who choose to experience and practice it. And like many of our nursing colleagues who put on their white uniform decades ago, we owe where we are today to our mentors ... and we owe it to the next generation of nurses to empower, inspire, and engage "mentor musts." Remember, "mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction" (John C. Crosby).
Georgia Elmassian, MSN, MA, APRN, CPSN, CFLE
President, ISPAN