Mentoring has received a great deal of attention in nursing recently, much of it due to the increasing nursing shortage and the need to quickly assimilate new graduates into the fast pace of today's healthcare environment. A recent nursing database search located over 400 references for the topic of mentoring just between the years 2004 and 2005!! Vance, considered a nursing expert in mentoring, feels mentoring is essential to leadership development (Vance, 2002a), a professional obligation (Vance, 2002b), and a "natural component of teaching" (Vance, 1995).
Mentoring has not received only positive accolades, however. In a recent article in Nursing Standard (Mentoring, 2005), healthcare providers who were mentoring students reported they felt patients received a poorer quality of care because of the felt need to mentor inexperienced students. In response, another author defended mentoring of students and argued mentoring actually enhances patients' quality of care (Rawcliffe, 2005). The article attracted a great deal of discussion as others also expressed disagreement with the idea that mentoring results in poorer quality of care (Hogston, 2005; Spiers, 2005). As an educator, as well as the recipient of effective mentoring, I also challenge the thesis that poor quality of care results when a nurse preceptor is responsible for mentoring a student. Perhaps the true issue is the mentor's lack of commitment to the mentoring process.
Vance (personal communication) emphasizes several benefits of mentoring: career success and advancement, increased professional and personal satisfaction, enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence, preparation for leadership roles, and strengthening of the profession. In addition, she feels mentoring relationships contribute to life and career development, give the ability to see potential in another and offer affirmation, and influence others to achieve goals. According to Vance, in a successful mentoring relationship, the mentee is "not the same" after being mentored.
Because of her belief of the importance of mentoring to the nursing discipline, Vance (personal communication) has suggested a "mentor practicum." A potential mentor would explore the roles of professional guide, role model, coach, and facilitator (connecting mentees to others). According to Vance, the results of these efforts are that those who have been mentored, mentor others.
My mentor relationships in both my personal and professional life validate many of Vance's key points. As a result of being mentored by others, I have achieved much more than I ever saw for myself, and in turn, have been recognized by others as an important mentor in their personal and professional lives. Mentoring truly does produce longterm benefits.
Within our own professional nursing society, many of our leaders have attributed their success and leadership skills to others who have invested in them, both personally and professionally. As recently as the May 2005 annual educational course, both President Nancy DeNiro and Past President Cathy McNeil Dykes acknowledged the "many others" who helped them to achieve success in their critical and influential roles as leaders of a national nursing organization.
As we begin to prepare for a new year, I challenge you to consider your own mentoring experiences. Have they been positive or negative? If negative, what were the circumstances, and did you learn from the experience? In your own life, how have you served as a mentor to others? Have you ever considered the longterm impact you may have made through your efforts, whether formal or informal.
Our profession and nursing society will always be in need of effective mentors. As our nursing colleagues age and retire, it is critical for them to pass on the wisdom and experience of their mentoring relationships. I feel developing a "culture" of mentoring is an important aspect of our nursing influence. In an article addressing the culture of mentorship, one mentee stated, "We have tried to develop an environment here where work is what you do, but you need to become a better person to do better work. He's (the mentor) helped me push myself to be a better person (Warren, 2005). We have a need for "better work" in our practice environments. And we certainly need "better people" in nursing.
Mentoring is unquestionably one important aspect of achieving better work and better people. Make a commitment to mentor and to be mentored. Create a culture of mentoring in your practice setting. And don't forget to thank those who have invested in you through mentoring relationships. I suspect you are a "better person" as a result of those experiences.
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