The so-called "2 + 2" prelicensure nursing programs, which front-load prerequisite and non-nursing courses, delay student exposure to nursing didactic, laboratory, and clinical coursework. Underclass students at one such prelicensure nursing program reported a lack of engagement and sense of nursing identity due to the absence of laboratory and clinical experience. In response, Student Nurses Association (SNA) leadership implemented a peer mentoring program. Peer mentoring programs demonstrate significant benefit to mentors and mentees alike, including improved student retention, increased engagement, and fostering nursing professional identity.1 SNA designed a peer mentoring program that joined a student from each year of the program into mentoring quartets. As part of the program, mentors brought their mentees to nursing skills sessions in the simulation laboratory, occurring twice a week, and taught them psychomotor skills under the supervision of laboratory instructors. A subaim was to provide the underclass students exposure to simulation and offer a glimpse into the nursing role in the inpatient clinical setting. The skills mentors taught included fundamental (wound care and dressing changes, nasogastric tube placement), intermediate (intramuscular and subcutaneous injections, indwelling urinary catheter insertion), and advanced (venipuncture and intravenous line placement, central line dressing changes, priming intravenous fluids and programming administration pump). Anecdotal student comments demonstrated high levels of satisfaction, supporting that students found the experience engaging and beneficial. This opportunity allowed underclass students to develop a sense of nursing identity and increased their engagement in coursework.
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