Hospitals are reporting a high rate of turnover of new nursing graduates. Hospital managers have the responsibility of lowering the rate of turnover by learning how to develop and implement mentoring programs for new nurses (Stahl, 2004). Working as a welfare manager in Health Net hospital, I intend to use the program to lower the rate of turnover and increase the hospital’s productivity.
First of all, I intend to form a committee consisting of willing individuals from different departments in the hospital to oversee the implementation of the program. Asking them to join the committee helps encourage all members of staff to participate in the implementation of the mentoring program (Mentoring Programs for New Nurses, 2011). The committee’s leading mandate will help the hospital generate a list of expectations of the mentors and create a training manual for guiding mentors on what they are expected to do with the new nursing graduates.
Additionally, the committee will prepare a timetable indicating the appropriate duration for covering the provided topics and the objectives that the mentors and the new nurses should achieve during the mentoring. I will ensure that the mentoring program addresses not only the facility’s operational procedures but also important concerns, such as the emotional impact the job can have and the best methods of managing stress.
After creating the training manual and preparing efficiently, I will persuade all nurses to volunteer as mentors. The committee will evaluate the volunteers’ strengths and weaknesses and select those with positive reviews and those who are highly respected by their fellow nurses for them to serve the hospital as mentors. In case of difficulties in finding enough mentors, I will encourage the hospital to provide an incentive program for those who volunteer. Attractive incentive programs will motivate most of the nurses to accept to work as mentors (Grossman and Valiga, 2005).
Since training mentors is essential in achieving the objectives of the mentoring program, I will assign the duty of training them to experienced members of the committee (Flynn, 2006). The trainers will be required to discuss, among other issues, the methods of assistance of the new graduates and mechanisms of accessing the resources for achieving the hospital’s objectives. I will endeavor to make the training more relevant by meeting with the mentors regularly to update them on new developments regarding the program and answering their questions.
After training the mentors, I will assign at least two of them to each of the new nursing graduates and create social activities to make mentoring easier. Social activities reduce the level of stress relative to the stress they commonly encounter while taking care of multiple patients. Since the effectiveness of the program depends on a myriad of factors, I will evaluate and improve the program to ensure the hospital achieves the desired objectives. Moreover, as the new nursing graduates mature in leadership, I will encourage the mentors to adopt coaching styles where individuals are rewarded with increased relationship behaviour (Grossman and Valiga, 2005).
There are barriers to implementing the mentoring program, and I will develop strategies to overcome them. The first barrier is that the hospital is relatively understaffed. Therefore, the available time for training mentors and implementing the program is limited. Further, the number of volunteers that would volunteer is insufficient to meet the hospital’s demands. The nurses have personal programs to attend to after official working hours, so, consequently, they may not be readily willing to work for extra hours.
Despite the barriers, the hospital considers that the mentoring program has numerous long time benefits and, therefore, the program has been implemented, creating strategies to overcome the challenges. The hospital will ask the nurses to use part of their free time to execute the mentorship duties. Further, it will allow the volunteers to take part in mentoring programs during official working hours. The hospital will also pay the mentors competitive salaries to motivate them.
Since the hospital is willing to invest in the program despite barriers, it is notable that it has identified the benefits of having a mentoring program. The program will help the organization to increase the rate of job satisfaction and decrease the rate of turnover. The reduction in the rate of turnover will ultimately lead to growth in the hospital’s productivity (Flynn, 2006).
However, evaluation of the program is essential for ensuring that it helps the hospital to achieve its objectives. Therefore, I will evaluate the program frequently. I will conduct surveys involving the mentors and new nurses, who will be the main respondents (Mentoring Programs for New Nurses, 2011). The reports of the surveys help make the necessary improvements before starting mentoring programs with new teams of nursing graduates. Therefore, I will use it to improve the program. Apart from using surveys, I will encourage new nursing graduates who have completed the mentoring program to become mentors.
Despite the costs associated with developing and implementing a mentoring program for new nurses, the program is one of the most effective management tools for increasing the rate of productivity in hospitals. The program helps hospitals to retain most of their workers for longer periods. Therefore, it helps hospitals to benefit adequately from their nurses’ skills and experiences and improve in management.
References
Flynn, J. P. (2006). The Role of the Preceptor a Guide for Nurse Educators, Clinicians, and Managers (2nd ed.). New York: Springer Pub.
Grossman, S., & Valiga, T. M. (2005). The New Leadership Challenge: Creating the Future of Nursing (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.
Stahl, M. J. (2004). Encyclopedia of Health Care Management. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Mentoring Programs for New Nurses. (2011). What Works for Health: Policies and Programs to Improve Wisconsin’s Health. Web.
Nursing is a professional area of practice which deals with provision of health services to patients in a hospital setting. It is considered as a helping profession because nurses usually empathize with patients during treatment. By being empathetic, the nurses imagine themselves in the situation of the patients and as a result, they are able to effectively understand what the patients go through and offer the necessary support.
The training of nurses is considered as one of the most stressful experiences for the learners. The reason is that it involves attending to patients with various illnesses, chronic conditions, and victims of fatal accidents. The learners are also faced with horrible experiences, which if not properly managed may lead to burnout or in some extreme cases; the experiences may scare the learners from the nursing profession.
As a result, there is need for the learners to identify a clinical expert to walk with them hand in hand in their learning journey. The expert provides guidance and acts as a role model to the learners. Through their interaction with the mentor, the learners become motivated to learn new experiences. The learners also get the courage to overcome the feelings of burnout or the temptations to quit the profession and as a result, they aspire to achieve their learning objectives using the expert as an example (Kinnell & Hughes, 2010).
Selecting a Mentor
Before learners embark on the process of selecting a mentor, they should first understand the characteristics of a good mentor. A good mentor should be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the learners and help them deal with their weaknesses. The mentor should also be conversant with the topic and the emerging issues related to the topic. This kind of understanding is important because it enables the mentor to guide the learners in an appropriate way. The mentor should also be able to enhance the ability of the learners to make wise decisions and empower them with crucial resources for reference purposes (Grossman, 2013).
After understanding these characteristics, the leaners should look for a person whom they personally admire. The reason is that mentorship should be guided by the principles of friendship, understanding, and interest to help each other to achieve certain objectives. Once these requirements are fulfilled, the learners should proceed to establishing rapport with the mentor by discussing their learning objectives. The sharing enables the mentor to contextualize the learners’ objectives so as to know how best to help them (Grossman, 2013).
Working with a Mentor
After identifying the mentor and establishing rapport, the learners should have regular meetings with the mentor. Before any practical activity or lesson, the leaners should meet with the mentor to discuss the challenges which may be encountered and how to deal with the challenges. Such meetings enable the learners to be psychologically prepared to handle any stress which may come as a result of the practical lessons. The learners and the mentor should also have review meetings on regular basis to discus the overall achievement of the leaners and whether the leaners are still on course of achieving their objectives.
The leaners should be free to consult the mentor at any time they are faced with challenges and ensure that they observe dignity and respect when dealing with the mentor to avoid mistrust. Failure to interact with the mentor in a dignified and respectful manner may compromise the quality of mentorship and prevent the leaners from achieving their objectives. Learners should also respect the opinions of the mentor and give feedback to the mentor on regular basis. Above all, learners should not forget to always thank the mentor for the mentorship (Grossman, 2013).
References
Grossman, S. (2013). Mentoring in nursing: a dynamic and collaborative process. New York, NY: Springer.
Kinnell, D., & Hughes, P. (2010). Mentoring nursing and healthcare students. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Currently, the complex hospital setting requires new nurses to possess more that knowledge about healthcare to care for patients. According to Irwin et al. (2018), confidence in one’s professional skills is essential for new graduate nurses. However, with multiple responsibilities and new processes to learn, it is difficult for a new nurse to transition from a novice to an advanced beginner. As Ulrich et al. (2010) find, the turnover for new nurses can be high, if the hospital does not have a program to support novices. For example, one organization in the study had a “35% new graduate turnover rate” before implementing a mentorship intervention which lowered the rate of turnover to just above 5% (Ulrich et al., 2010, p. 374). These statistics show the role of a mentorship program for new hires and the healthcare industry as a whole.
By acquiring knowledge and applying it in practice, nurses also develop skills for high-quality patient care. The existing nursing research offers a classification of the stages that describe nurses’ scope of professional experience. According to Benner (1982), the levels of experience include novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. To start, novices are those who still attend or have recently finished a nursing school (Benner, 1982). The following stages (advanced beginner and competent) require the professional to learn standardized procedures and rules and acquire skills for independent decision-making and work structuring. A proficient nurse can make decisions based on their knowledge and precept mistakes made by other specialists. Finally, an expert nurse can see complex situations as a whole and manage co-workers to achieve the best result – these professionals guide others and can become preceptors to new specialists (Benner, 1982). As can be observed, these stages allow one to track the quality of the nurses’ grasp of the profession.
The number of nurses who struggle with confidence at the start of their career is great and this lack of self-assuredness can affect patient quality of care. “Unpreparedness of novice nurses during the process of transition to their professional role can has broad consequences for the nurse and health care system and leads to reduction of the quality of patient care” (Hezaveh et al., 2013, p. 2015). According to Hale and Phillips (2018), it is complicated for new nurses to feel equal to their co-workers, and this raises the question of whether experienced nurses’ support can guide new hires on their journey. The process of mentoring includes several stages: seeding, opening, laddering, equalizing and reframing. The first part, seeding, is the discovery of the relationship between the mentor and mentee. During opening, the professionals test their relationship – they share information and observe their changing dynamic. The third stage is laddering, during which the mentor and their protégé build a “ladder” for the latter to overcome challenges common for a new professional. Equalizing begins when the mentee starts viewing themselves as equal to mentors professionally. Finally, during the reframing phase, the mentee reflects on the relationship with the mentor and evaluates its input into their professional growth.
After passing these stages of mentoring, a new nurse can feel comfortable to start working full-time. According to the literature, mentorship programs contribute to “improved morale, higher career satisfaction, increased self-confidence, increased professional development, increased publication, obtaining more grants, and quicker promotion” (Nowell et al., 2015, p. 3). Thus, studies support the use of mentorship programs to help novice nurses’ transition into their new roles as confident nurses who are better equipped to manage the challenges of a nursing career.
As noted above, mentorship programs are considered a convenient and effective way to combat new nurses’ lack of professional confidence. A mentorship nursing program is a structured personal and professional development plan that helps novice nurses obtain confidence, job satisfaction, and retention with the assistance of an experienced or senior nurse (Regis College, 2019). To a novice nurse, the clinical setting has multiple unknowns and fears. A proper mentorship program can help minimize uncertainties that can lead to patient endangerment and new nurse dissatisfaction (Hofman & Hermandez-Romieu, 2020). According to Fleming (2017), mentorship programs help nurses gain confidence in their skills and knowledge and improve patient care.
This project aims to implement an evidence-based mentorship program that has been proven to help novice nurses transition into a thriving, competent nurses using a structured mentorship program. The chosen approach is built on the basis of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN, 2012a) Mentoring Program. The guide provided by the AMSN is designed guide nurses, promote mutuality and cooperation, increase communication skills, and provide information that helps overcome common stressors (AMSN, 2020).
A mentorship program begins with a set of established guidelines through a unique relationship between mentor and novice nurse. The mentor is someone who has had multiple years of experience in the given field of nursing and a nurse who is considered an expert in his/her field. The mentor may have prior experience as a mentor or may have had previous experience as a preceptor. However, a candidate interested in becoming a mentor must complete a two-week course that prepares them to be mentors. The purpose of pairing a novice nurse with a mentor is to cultivate a learning environment guided by an expert. Assigning a new nurse to a mentor is different than just providing a preceptor. The partnership will last for ten weeks and will be evaluated using the tools mentioned above. The success of the program will be measured using the new nurse confidence scale tool that will be reviewed at the end of the ten weeks mentorship.
Problem
This DNP project aims to address new nurses’ job confidence. On an international level, new nurses face the same issues many American nurses face when entering the workforce. One article mentions that the unpreparedness of novice nurses during the process of transition to their professional role can have broad consequences for the nurse and health care system which leads to a reduction of patient care quality (Hezaveh et al., 2013). In the US, studies have shown that low confidence leads to high turnover rates and nurses’ uncertainty in their fit for the profession (Ulrich et al., 2010). Buerhaus et al. (2017) mention that one million RNs will retire by 2030 and that “the departure of such a large cohort of experienced RNs means that patient care settings and other organizations that depend on RNs will face a significant loss of nursing knowledge and expertise that will be felt for years to come” (p. 40) Thus, it is vital for healthcare organizations to build a system that trains new nurses from the first day on the job to eliminate the knowledge gap between novices and experts.
To date, hospitals and nursing homes do not have standardized guidelines that state how to train new nurses to enhance their job confidence, communicate changes, and overcome challenges. A mentorship program could help these new nurses to face various difficulties. All healthcare workers are risking their lives for others, and present and future crises urge the nursing sector to introduce mentorship programs that improve nurses’ job confidence and satisfaction (Catholic Health Initiatives, 2020).
From a global and national perspective, structured mentorship systems implemented during crises such as the coronavirus could help nurses who need initial guidance (Kofman & Hernandez-Romieu, 2020). Structured mentor programs may also increase the quality and safety of patient care (Goodyear & Goodyear, 2018). Nurses’ high job confidence is essential for hospitals because it consequently influences job satisfaction and intent to stay at the organization (Jones, 2017). Several studies support the idea that nursing confidence is tied to the new nurses intention to stay at the hospital and continue working as a nurse (Ulrich et al., 2010; Schroyer, et al., 2020; Horner, 2017). At the University of Miami hospital, the mission is to provide excellent patient care with a focus on compassion and high-quality services (University of Miami Health System, 2020a).
PICOT Question
The following PICOT question will serve as the basis for the proposed DNP project: “For new nurses in the stroke unit at the University of Miami Hospital (P), how does the implementation of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) Mentoring Program (I), compared to current practice (C), affect new nurse job confidence (O) over ten weeks (T)?”
Literature Synthesis
Literature Search Strategy
The DNP project intends to determine whether mentorship programs are effective in increasing new nurses’ confidence. Thus, the focus of the literature search is on the use of mentorship in nursing education and its potential benefits for performance and personal view of professional skills. The investigation was conducted using the Chamberlain University online library, which included several databases. Using keywords and filters to show peer-reviewed articles that were published from 2016 to 2020, the following databases identified studies – PMC (1,842 results), MEDLINE (445 results), Sage (431 results), BMC Nursing (17 results), ProQuest (1,422 results), PubMed (36 results for articles in free access), ScienceDirect (488 results). After these resources were used, Google Scholar was added to the list of databases to search for open access articles from other platforms. The latter was chosen due to the lack of fitting articles from the selected databases, based on their methodology and focus of the investigation.
The inclusion criteria for studies covered the date of publication – articles published before 2016 were not considered. Furthermore, all studies needed to be peer-reviewed, be written in English and include primary research or systematic review. The following search terms were used: nurse confidence, nurse mentorship, and AMSN mentorship program. These terms’ variations were combined and used separately to ensure the full list of studies available for evaluation.
After reviewing the abstracts of the selected studies, twelve articles were chosen for research evidence appraisal. All pieces of research address the question of the DNP project and relate to its evidence-based intervention of nurse mentorship. The following synthesis of information is presented thematically, discussing the benefits of mentorship programs for new nurses that are mentioned in the selected studies. Next, the appraisal of these research pieces is presented to show the lack of knowledge and some limitations of existing scholarship. Finally, the summary of data is shown, and some ideas and needs for future studies are outlined.
Themes
It should be noted that all chosen studies discuss mentorship or similar programs as the solution to new nurses’ problems with integrating into the workforce and advancing their career. Mentorship is defined as a process during which a professional relationship between an experienced and a novice nurse is established, where the mentor passes the knowledge and skills to the mentee (Kurniawan et al., 2019). The use of this strategy is considered for multiple reasons which correspond to the most prevalent issues for new nurses. Notably, the variety in scholarship does not result in inconsistent findings – all selected studies support the use of mentorship as a highly effective intervention. However, the authors present different reasons for implementing mentorship, which can be divided into several themes.
Retention. Mentorship programs were found to positively affect retention levels among new nurses (Brook et al., 2019; Hussein et al., 2017; Jones, 2017; Salarvand et al., 2018). These studies demonstrate that most research participants regard mentoring opportunities as a positive influence on their professional knowledge and relationships with patients and peers. Such overwhelming support for this intervention suggests that a mentor-mentee relationship can have a lasting impact on recent hires and change the environment in which nurses operate. The first year of practice seems to be the most important for new nurses. During this time, a mentorship program affects nurses’ view of their capabilities and fit for the profession, which leads to greater retention (Brook et al., 2019; Hussein et al., 2017; Jones, 2017; Salarvand et al., 2018). However, the programs discussed by the scholars present a lack of social and emotional support, calling further research to look at programs that promote confidence and competence among novice nurses.
Job satisfaction. Furthermore, mentoring experiences are connected with an increase in job satisfaction (Brook et al., 2019; Havens et al., 2018; Horner, 2017; Hussein et al., 2017; Kurniawan et al., 2019). In fact, for almost half of the considered studies, the issue of job satisfaction appears as the central problem that affects nurses’ other growing concerns. In this case, mentorship is linked to autonomy, social contacts, a sense of accomplishment, and quality care (Brook et al., 2019; Havens et al., 2018; Horner, 2017; Hussein et al., 2017; Kurniawan et al., 2019). The role of a mentor-mentee relationship is highlighted as it affects job satisfaction and reduces burnout. Here, the communication between new and experienced nurses is under investigation. The authors discuss the ties between staff in the unit as a building block for higher engagement with patients and other care providers. As a result, the tight connections, high level of mutual understanding, and a clear view of one’s role in the setting lead to increased job satisfaction (Brook et al., 2019; Havens et al., 2018; Horner, 2017; Hussein et al., 2017; Kurniawan et al., 2019).
Competence and skills. The third benefit of mentoring programs is their ability to increase nurses’ competences, required skills, and overall theoretical and practical knowledge necessary for the nursing profession (Hussein et al., 2017; Irwin et al., 2018; McKillop et al., 2016; Schroyer et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017). In contrast to single, unstructured mentoring initiatives, preceptorship programs are more effective, fostering a helping environment and influencing competence and confidence (Irwin et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2017). Likewise, Hussein et al. (2017) and Schroyer et al. (2016) report increased self-efficacy and understanding of the nursing profession, suggesting these interventions for novices and students’ curriculums. The scope of nursing is explained to new nurses by professionals with years of experience, and it also explains the most effective ways of acquiring knowledge in the future.
Knowledge transferral happens during mentorship programs, especially in units and care centers with specific requirements (McKillop et al., 2016; Worthington et al., 2016). Scholarship – mentorship interventions positively change nurses’ attitudes toward care and their knowledge of procedures with statistically significant improvements. Mentees demonstrate the depth of the impact that a direct conversation with a mentor can make on their understanding of the issue (Hussein et al., 2017; Worthington et al., 2016).
Confidence. Finally, although researchers look at different reasons for implementing a mentoring intervention, one threat seems to connect much of the scholarship in this area – nurses’ confidence in their skills, fit for the profession, and future career development. As shown above, the majority of authors pay the most attention to one particular concern of new nurses. However, most studies either include nurses’ confidence in their variables or mention it as an integral part of the issue (Brook et al., 2019; Hussein et al., 2017; Irwin et al., 2018; Worthington et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017).
While looking at retention levels, Brook et al. (2019) and Hussein et al. (2017) connect the nurses’ desire to stay at their job to the mentorship opportunity, which has built the novice care providers’ confidence and fostered teamwork. In this case, the idea is presented that confidence becomes one of the pillars for nurses’ success. The existence of a mentor-mentee relationship accounts for a significant part of novice nurses’ job satisfaction rate (Brook et al., 2019; Kurniawan et al., 2019). Confidence is also considered a predictor of good performance among nurses (Kurniawan et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2017).
The issue of gaining confidence is further linked to care provision and patient outcomes. One study concludes that “well-prepared, confident and committed newly employed nurses have the potential to improve quality of patient care and enhance patient safety” (Jones, 2017, p. 77). Confidence in nurses’ minds is related to providing fair and equitable treatment and knowing one’s scope of practice (Hussein et al., 2017; Brook et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2017). Apart from empowering nurses to continue working, mentoring that targets confidence also improves the process of seeking knowledge and nurses’ ability to help patients. Confidence is perceived as part of nurses’ communication skills and knowledge application (Irwin et al., 2018; McKillop et al., 2016). As noted above, confidence in one’s scope of knowledge empowers nurses to continue learning and admit the inability to make an informed decision. Thus, one can see that confidence is a vital element of mentoring. Most scholars believe in the critical role of increasing nurses’ confidence to impact all aspects of care delivery.
Issues
Qualitative methodology and low levels of evidence. There exists a lack of high-quality evidence that would focus on new nurses’ confidence in mentorship programs. In fact, large numbers of results in databases outlined in the introductory part of this chapter do not represent the amount of evidence that could be used for a literature synthesis. Most studies had to be excluded due to them using qualitative methods, extremely small sample sizes, or cross-sectional designs. Therefore, most findings available for appraisal do not have reliable quantitative data or present only a glimpse into a mentoring intervention. In the chosen studies, similar limitations are apparent – Horner (2017), Hussein et al. (2017), McKillop et al. (2016), and Worthington et al. (2016) employ mixed methods, while only one randomized controlled study by Zhang et al. (2017) was located.
Brief discussion of confidence. Although most of the discussed studies mention confidence and link it to nurses’ performance and professional development, they do not attempt to measure the change in new hires’ confidence levels after a mentoring intervention. It should be noted that research by Worthington et al. (2016) includes individual questions about nurses’ confidence, but it presents qualitative findings that are challenging to measure. In the interviews, nurses mention confidence several times, citing the program as a root of their increased self-confidence and improved self-perception as professionals. Furthermore, Hussein et al. (2017) use a Likert scale for measuring confidence levels, but the questions and the framework are not transparent to replicate. Nurses report higher confidence levels after a mentorship program in both cases (Hussein et al., 2017; Worthington et al., 2016).
Nevertheless, the lack of attention to quantitative measurement of confidence change as a result of the mentoring program is puzzling, as most research articles discuss this aspect of nurses’ skills and aim to connect it to their findings. The presented investigations show a gap in results and support the relevance of this DNP project. While nurses’ confidence appears in a variety of studies that report great benefits of mentoring programs for nurses, none of the scholarly papers consider using developed scales to confirm their statements with results. The work by Jones (2017) mentions the AMSN mentoring program, while others talk about confidence in relation to retention, competence, communication, peer support, and patient outcomes. The role of confidence and its improvement during mentoring interventions are, therefore, challenging to overemphasize, but the quantitative measurements are visibly lacking.
Summary and Future Research Considerations
To sum up, the literature synthesis of recent academic scholarship reveals several ideas about nurses’ confidence and the use of mentoring programs. First, it is apparent that mentorship is highly regarded by researchers, and various studies support the use of this intervention to improve the performance and self-perception of new nurses. Second, nurses mention the improvement of confidence as an outcome of mentorship, even if the study does not center on this topic. Scholars also pay significant attention to connecting the role of confidence in helping nurses acquire knowledge and connect with patients and other nurses in a meaningful way.
However, the current state of the literature also exposes a lack of statistical data about confidence rates’ changes under the impact of mentoring programs. Although some articles briefly discuss such a tool as the New Nurse Confidence Scale, most do not aim to use this data for their conclusions. A small number of studies include some questions about confidence in their interview or a single entry in a survey. This flaw in the existing scholarship denotes an underdeveloped area of research. The focus on confidence change as an outcome of a mentoring program may open new possibilities for future research, as several authors acknowledge its fundamental role in building nurses’ competence. As a whole, the scholarship overwhelmingly supports the use of a mentoring intervention for improving new nurses’ integration into practice while also urging to consider confidence as an unexplored area.
Purpose
The DNP project aims to increase job confidence among new nurses by implementing a structured mentorship program introduced in the hospital for the first ten weeks after orientation. Specific objectives related to the DNP project are the following: prepare and implement a structured mentorship program for new nurses in the hospital, evaluate the influence of a formal mentorship program on new nurses’ job confidence in comparison to current practice, and demonstrate a positive impact on job confidence of new nurses through quantitative measures.
Evidence-Based Intervention
As shown in the literature, new nurses’ confidence can be linked to a variety of factors that affect nurses’ performance, job satisfaction, and desire to continue working in this field (Brook et al., 2019; Hussein et al., 2017; Irwin et al., 2018; Worthington et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017). To ensure that nurses acquire confidence in the first year of their work, a mentorship guidance program is suggested by many authors, who find this type of intervention highly useful (Brook et al., 2019; Hussein et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2017). The DNP project will implement the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN, 2020) Mentoring Program. Utilizing Benner’s Novice to Expert theoretical framework, a new nurse (mentee) will be paired with an expert nurse in the chosen hospital (mentor).
The AMSN Mentoring Program includes three separate guides for the site coordinator, mentor, and mentee. All three documents have details on the principles of a mentoring relationship, self-assessment, mentoring program plan, and necessary evaluation tools (AMSN, 2020). This guide was chosen for the intervention because it is a program that has been validated by other studies (Grindel & Hagerstrom, 2009), and it has a specific structure with tools and information for all participants to follow. Moreover, it is a program that acknowledges the unique needs of nurses in comparison to other healthcare providers, including their interprofessional collaboration, patient care, teamwork, and physician-nurse relationships. Although the guide provides more information for medical-surgical nurses, it can be adapted for other types of nursing specializations, including specialists working in the stroke unit. In fact, the guide’s acknowledgment of nurses’ specific needs according to their department makes this program highly flexible.
The content of the mentoring guide is separated into three major parts: a site coordination guide, a mentee guide, and a mentor guide. The first document describes the goals of this program and the role of each participant (AMSN, 2012c). Next, it provides checklists for the coordinator that allows one to track the timeline of the program. The mentee guide lists directions for the new nurse to follow and includes templates for background information, confidence scale, plans, guidelines, and other measurement tools to achieve set goals (AMSN, 2012a). Finally, the mentor guide starts with the directions for the experienced nurses participating in the project, a self-assessment test to see whether they are fit for a teaching role (AMSN, 2012b). The document also contains exercises for the mentor to implement and the meeting agenda and tools to use during mentor-mentee discussions.
During the first week of the project, participants (both mentors and mentees) will be recruited and informed about their rights and duties if they agree to take part in the program. The informed consent form will be handed out to all nurses taking part in the project. This document answers general questions about the project and addresses information confidentiality, nurses’ workload, and other potential ethical issues. Finally, it lists the contact information to ask further questions about the project and talks about the rights each participant has.
After they sign the informed consent form, the nurses will be educated about the mentoring program. This instruction is necessary to ensure that all participants clearly understand their goals during the following weeks. This educational offering will include a presentation that covers the importance of the mentorship program, discusses its goals, and describes the requirements for scheduling and meeting with assigned mentors, mentees, and the site coordinator. Two short presentations will take no more than 20 minutes, 10 minutes will be allotted for a Q&A section, and a short survey will be administered to ensure participants’ comprehension.
Mentors and mentees will also be introduced to the framework of the project, principles of adult learning, the continuum of nurse experience (from novice to expert), and the phases of the mentor-mentee relationship. These four questions will be discussed in the form of presentations, role play, and additional handouts. Each segment will take no longer than 15 minutes, excluding the final group discussion and five final questions to check the participants’ understanding.
To use the AMSN’s guide, the site coordinator must link the mentees with their mentors, using the self-assessment tests and new nurses’ background information. Then, mentors and mentees review their respective guides and complete initial tests that will allow one to compare the starting numbers with the results of the intervention. Most importantly, the mentees complete the Confidence Scale for New Nurses prior to the start of the intervention, but after being paired with their mentor. Once this data is collected, the program begins and continues over the course of eight weeks – the schedule for the intervention is structured according to the participants’ working schedule, and the AMSN guide allows for flexible meeting times for mentors and mentees. During these weeks, assigned pairs of mentors and mentees meet at agreed-upon intervals and complete exercises from the AMSN guide.
It should be noted that the original program developed by the AMSN is much longer than the project – it spans over one year. However, the project under investigation does not have such a long timeframe, which requires the program to be scaled down to eight weeks. The AMSN guide’s flexible scheduling opportunities allow mentors and mentees to meet at any time intervals, which makes this adaptation possible.
During weeks two-nine, the intervention takes place, and nurses work together to share knowledge and integrate new hires into the unit. As the scale of the intervention is smaller than that suggested by the AMSN, which offers a 12-month program, the progress is tracked by the site coordinator in two-week intervals (as opposed to three- and six-month gaps). In this case, the role of the site coordinator is assumed by the DNP student, who meets with the mentor-mentee dyad on a biweekly basis. Conversations are held one-on-one to ensure that mentees and mentors are comfortable discussing their experience and reporting any problems that may arise during the intervention. Mentors and mentees also meet on a set schedule that they design following their own available time and the guide’s specifications. During their meetings, they use tools from the guide and follow the developed agenda.
New nurses have the ability to ask practice-related questions, discuss procedures, and request advice on any topics with which they may struggle in their workplace. The AMSN guide provides several sections to which mentors and mentees can pay attention: interpersonal skills, management skills, and organizational skills. Interpersonal skills include relationship building, conflict management, feedback, assertiveness, and assertiveness. To improve one’s management capabilities, mentors may discuss motivation, delegation, organizational culture, networking, team building, and self-management. Finally, the meeting topics can revolve around project and time management and professional goal setting for mentees.
The dyads will be given the freedom to choose which themes are the most important or pressing to mentees in this particular working environment. The focus on the individual interests of the new nurses makes this intervention tailored to each specific case and allows mentees to avoid talking about information they know well. However, it also means that one cannot predict the topics that will become the most prevalent among nurses. The site coordinator-dyad discussions will be semi-structured, using surveys and tests provided in the AMSN guides as the main guideline.
On the tenth week of the project, the mentees complete the confidence scale again, as well as the Job Satisfaction Scale and Intent to Stay in the Job Survey. The DNP student meets with the participants for the last time and offers to discuss additional feedback that may be used to adjust future projects. Mentors fill in the Assessment of the Relationship with the Mentee and Mentoring Program Satisfaction Survey – they are also provided with an opportunity to provide feedback. These surveys are used to form some final outcomes of the program and assess its success in the unit.
Translational Science Model or Theoretical Framework/Change Model
The translational science model selected as the underpinning for this DNP project is the Knowledge-to-Action (KTA) Framework. This framework was developed in Canada by Graham and colleagues in 2004 (Xu et al., 2020). KTA is a concept that systematically explains how to take actions having knowledge. The Knowledge-to-Action (TKA) process has two components: knowledge creation and Action (World Health Organization, n.d.). Researchers report the TKA framework is frequently cited and widely utilized and integral to knowledge translation (Field et al., 2014). The model’s primary tenets include identification of the problems, adaptation of knowledge, assessment of barriers to knowledge use, selection of intervention, monitoring the implementation, evaluating outcomes, and sustaining knowledge use for future utilization (Field et al., 2014).
The TKA model has seven tenets. The first stage is identifying the problem, which is the job confidence among new nurses. Lack of proper training for new graduate nurses can decrease the job confidence of new members of the healthcare team. This issue brings the process to the second stage, which is to adapt the knowledge into the local context. This can be achieved by recognizing there is a need to adopt a mentorship program at the University of Miami Hospital’s stroke unit. The third stage identifies any barriers that may present themselves in the implementation of a mentorship program. Some of the identified obstacles are the current situation with the global pandemic COVID, leadership motivation, and the nurse’s resistance to change. To overcome these barriers, the DNP student will work closely with the identified stakeholders to determine how to establish this given mentorship program. The fourth stage in this project is the implementation stage. During this stage, the DNP student will launch the mentorship program using the AMSN Mentoring Program that focuses on the Knowledge-to-Action (KTA) Framework (Washington University in St. Louis, 2019).
To help the program succeed, the DNP student will launch the fifth stage of the project to monitor and evaluate the mentorship program through surveys and patient feedback. This is vital to understand the strong and weak aspects of the nurses’ activities and work on them appropriately. This stage is pivotal as it helps identify issues that can be modified to help the program reach completion. Evaluation of the outcomes will occur during the sixth stage using the New Nurse Confidence Scale tool to evaluate the success of the mentorship program. Information gathered will be given to staff members and administrators to reveal the project’s success. The final stage in this project is to establish sustainability within the stroke unit. This will be accomplished by raising awareness about the problem, educating key stakeholders, empowering staff, and creating new protocols to continue the mentorship program for years to come.
Organizational Setting
The organizational setting for this DNP project is the stroke unit at the University of Miami Hospital. The typical client is a patient with neurological problems, aged 55 and above, residing in the hospital vicinity. Typical areas of treatment include the brain, spinal cord, cranial, nerves, muscle, and heart. Most of these patients also suffer from high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, and diabetes. The number of patients seen annually is 1500 with strokes and 35,000 in the whole Department of Neurology (University of Miami Health System, 2020b). The unit of the hospital sees many uninsured patients as well as those on Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurances.
Population Description
The anticipated population for this DNP project is 10-15 new registered nurses hired during the first half of 2020. Inclusion criteria for nurses in this study are newly hired registered nurses in the stroke unit, less than one month out of orientation, less than one-year nursing experience, and willing to be mentored. Traveling or agency nurses, non-nurses, nurses who have been out of orientation for a period longer than one month, nurses in orientation, and those who are unwilling/unable to be mentored will be excluded from the study.
Preceptors are not a part of the population, but due to the controlled nature of the project, some inclusion criteria apply to them as well. Mentors need to have at least five years of nursing expertise in the stroke unit, previous experience in preceptorship/mentorship, and willingness to mentor. Exclusion criteria for preceptors are traveling or agency nurses, non-nurses, and those nurses who have less than five years of nursing experience in the stroke unit.
Considerations and Challenges for Implementation
The project requires substantial time from employees as it asks them to make time for additional meetings, discussions, and planning. As such, the lack of time is the first potential challenge for the implementation. According to Havens et al. (2018), nurses experience continuous time constraints, especially in units with a high number of emergency situations or incoming patients. To overcome this problem, nurse mentees will be allowed to allocate some time at the end of the shift to devote to their planning of the mentorship agenda and completing surveys. Moreover, they will be encouraged to discuss appropriate meeting times with mentors that will not significantly affect the workload of the experience nurses and themselves.
As the AMSN Mentoring Program requires a significant number of mentors to participate, the lack of human resources may arise as another obstacle to completion. Nurses have a busy schedule which demotivates them from additional initiatives (Havens, et al. 2018; Ortiz, 2016). Consequently, when the nursing staff has resistance to change, the DNP student will emphasize the value of mentorship with the help of hospital executives. According to Salam and Alghamdi (2016), resistance to change is a problem in many spheres; however, in nursing, it affects not only the professional but also the patient. The DNP student and hospital leadership will work diligently in explaining the benefits of a mentorship program. A lunch and learn session with staff and administrators will present the mentorship program in detail.
A lack of motivation is another issue from which the results of the project can suffer. Intrinsic and external motivation are essential in the learning process, and if the team fails to participate in the process of mentorship with a complete understanding of its benefits, the results may not demonstrate the full potential of the program (Kodama & Fukahori, 2017). The investigator will discuss the programs’ benefits and introduce it in a way that represents value to all members involved will help with the resistance. Lack of motivation is eliminated with this format, and more nurses will be eager to participate (Kodama & Fukahori, 2017). The University of Miami Hospital employees are open to evidence-based practice; therefore, there will not be any significant objections.
Outcomes
The measurable outcome for this proposed project is an increase in new nurses’ confidence after participation in a structured, evidence-based mentorship program. The data collection process will focus on measuring novice nurses’ confidence prior to and after the mentoring program. For this, the New Nurse Confidence Scale will be administered pre- and post-intervention – all mentees participating in the program will receive the form to complete, and the data will be collected online. This tool is a part of the AMSN mentorship program; the survey contains 26 questions that assess the level of confidence on a 5-point Likert scale, from “not at all confident” to “very confident.” The New Nurse Confidence Scale has been validated by the AMSN (2012a) and the study by Grindel and Hagerstrom (2009). The data analysis of the present project will include internal reliability measurement, using Cronbach’s alpha.
Additionally, the mentees will complete the Assessment of the Relationship with the Mentor Form and the Mentoring Program Satisfaction Survey at the end of the project to ensure the high quality of the mentorship program and gain additional insight into the usefulness of the intervention (AMSN, 2012a). As such, the surveys will be administered to the novice nurses during week 10 of the project, together with the posttest completion of the New Nurse Confidence Scale. These tools use the same measurement system as the New Nurse Confidence Scale – a 5-point scale, with the Assessment of the Relationship with the Mentor Form having a separate point, “not applicable.” All measurement tools are available through the AMSN mentorship program toolkit (Szalmasagi, 2018). The statistical evidence of these tools is provided by the AMSN as well, and the internal reliability of the surveys (alpha) will be measured prior to presenting results.
Data Management Plan
The present project is quasi-experimental, with a pretest-posttest design. New nurses’ confidence lies at the center of the project’s investigation, and the AMSN Mentoring Program uses the New Nurse Confidence Scale to assess this factor. Thus, the results of this survey are the main sources of data that indicate nurses’ level of confidence before and after the evidence-based intervention program. As the mentees have to be chosen to participate, and the sample has inclusion criteria, this project cannot be considered fully experimental. The New Nurse Confidence Scale used in the program allows one to compare findings pre- and posttest. Hence, the investigation employs a one group pretest-posttest design, since a control group is not separated from the whole sample (Grimshaw, 2000).
The structured mentor program offered by the AMSN serves as the independent variable for this project. In produces nominal data since the main question here is whether the nurses completed the program or not. Here, no measurement is needed as all nurses in the sample will complete the program. The dependent variable is the nurses’ level of confidence. The latter is calculated using the New Nurse Confidence Scale which is a survey consisting of 26 statements (AMSN, 2020). Nurses assess their agreement with the scale’s statements using the 5-point Likert scale, from “not at all confident” to “very confident.” Then, the items are summed to calculate a total score ranging from 26 to 130, which means that the dependent variable produces interval data (Grindel & Hagerstrom, 2009).
The New Nurses Confidence Scale (AMSN, 2012a) will be administered electronically with data being exported to a comma-separated value file and transmitted to the statistician for analysis. Due to the observations being measured prior to and after the intervention study identification numbers will be assigned. The number of participants will be reported for each time period (nominal variable: preintervention and postintervention). As a result, the evidence-based intervention created by the AMSN yields two sets of data from the nurses who completed the New Nurse Confidence Scale before and after the program’s completion. The comparison of these two data sets is the statistic that is interpreted in the QI’s results.
Mean (standard deviation) and median (interquartile range) of the New Nurses Confidence Scale (interval data) will be calculated for both periods of time (Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, 2012a). Dependent variables were tested for normality using normal probability plots and the Anderson-Darling, Shapiro-Francia, and the Shapiro-Wilk normality tests (Anderson & Darling, 1954; Shapiro & Francia, 1972; Shapiro & Wilk, 1965). The Anderson-Darling test is the recommended empirical distribution function test by Stephens compared to other tests of normality giving more weight to the tails of the distribution than the Cramer-von Mises test (Stephens, 1986). The Shapiro-Francia test was chosen because of its known performance and the Shapiro-Wilk test was chosen because it is one of the best-known tests for normality (Shapiro & Wilk, 1965).
To measure the change in nurses’ confidence after the intervention, the investigator will use the dependent-sample t test. As Gerald (2018) explains, the dependent -sample t test is most often selected for investigations with a pretest-posttest design, where two sets of data are connected to each other, since they originate from one group of participants. In this case, the first group of scores is calculated from pretest scores of the New Nurse Confidence Scale, and the second group is taken from the nurses’ posttest scores of the New Nurse Confidence Scale.
Owning to the dependence of the data a one-sided test [paired t test or Wilcoxon Signed Rank test; (Student, 1908; Wilcoxon, 1945)] will be used to identify an increase in confidence (Wilcoxon, 1945). The dependent sample t test detects an increase (or decrease) in means and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test examines whether there is a shift (increase or decrease) in location due to the intervention (Hollander & Wolfe, 1999). Since there was an interest in scores increasing after the intervention a one-sided test was used instead of a two-sided test. As a result, the tests should demonstrate a change in the level of the new nurses’ confidence.
Project Management Plan and Gantt Chart
The intervention will be the implementation of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) Mentoring Program. Using Benner’s Novice to Expert theoretical framework, a novice mentee will be paired with a proficient or expert mentor.
Week 1: Recruitment of participants (mentors and mentees), signing of informed consent, education on the structured mentorship program, assignment of a mutually agreed upon 8-week schedule will be created, the mentees will complete the New Nurse Confidence Scale. During the first week, blueprints will be distributed among the nurse, and the nurse educator will establish training sessions with employees. The executives will give a presentation to staff members with the value of the necessity of adjustments. Week 2: the implementation of the intervention in the practicum site.
Weeks 2-9: Biweekly check-ins with the DNP student and the mentor/mentee to assure cooperation between the pair and to answer any questions. Weeks 2-9 will also be used to encourage nurses to be held accountable for meetings with mentors and to track them further with regular meetings. It is also essential to evaluate the initial data and feedback to make changes if needed.
Week 10: Mentors will complete the Assessment of the Relationship with the Mentee and Mentoring Program Satisfaction Survey. The mentees will complete the New Nurse Confidence Scale, the Assessment of the Relationship with the Mentor Survey, and the Mentoring Program Satisfaction Survey. Week 10 will also be dedicated to the analysis of data and feedback gathered and the presentation of the intervention’s central results.
Proposed Budget
The project requires significant resources that will be used in the implementation project phase; they will be indicated in the attached budget plan. The financial expenditures are associated with the work of the compliance committee which includes one nurse, quality team member/statistician, project manager, and a nurse educator. Members of the committee will facilitate project plan execution to improve new nurses’ job confidence and evaluate data on the project implementation and a level of successful application. Members of this team will be paid their average salary to help nurses follow the mentorship principles and undergo extensive training and interactions with mentors. Human resources will be needed to encourage medical professionals to be involved in the project. To address this, the time of the management team and executives should be used to educate people; it is expected that they will do it without additional expenditures because they are interested in enhancing job confidence among nurses. To evaluate results gathered during the project implementation, a Statistician will be used. Finally, other materials, such as conference rooms, paper, printers, laptops, and projectors, will be needed to create a presentation and guidelines and show it to the hospital’s employees to communicate changes indicated in the budget.
The sources of finance will be initially found internally through institutional budget support expected to provide the most significant investments. Among other sources, grants can be found to help with the launch of the project in the hospital because foundations may sponsor such studies to research COVID-19 related concerns and job improvement initiatives. The hospital executives can present a project implementation plan to targeted scholarship and funding organizations and get additional support. The project is non-profit, and benefits are not expected to be monetary. Instead, they should indirectly increase the quality of healthcare services and job retention levels among new nurses of the hospital.
Table 1:Budget
EXPENSES
REVENUE
Direct
Billing
Salary and benefits One free nurse salary that is dedicated only to the project. This is the average salary of a nurse with at least one year of experience who will work Monday through Friday, a part-time 40-hour shift a week for 2,5 months at $28/hr.
$11,200
Grants None currently presented.
Supplies Paper, printing, projector, laptops to roll out training (some can be borrowed in the hospital).
$200
Institutional budget support
$25,000
Services It is expected that a nurse educator will help train staff members at the beginning of the project for two weeks. This is estimated at a rate of $30/hr for a standard 40-hour workweek.
$2,400
Statistician A quality team member will facilitate the process of data analysis. We will ask the quality director to allocate ten overtime hours a week for 2,5 months at a rate of $45/hr to support the project.
$4,500
Indirect Overtime allotted to project manager at 10 hours per week for 2,5 months at a rate of $35/hr.
$3,500
Overhead
Total Expenses
$21,800
Total Revenue
$25,000
Net Balance
$3,200
Ethical Issues and Considerations
Approval to conduct this DNP project will be sought from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Chamberlain University. IRB approval at the practicum site is not required for quality improvement projects. Participation in the research is strictly voluntary without monetary benefits of involvement, and evaluation forms for mentors and mentees will be anonymous. All volunteers will receive comprehensive information about the future research, objectives; Q&A session will be held to answer questions of volunteers. Mentors and mentees will get specific guidelines to follow to establish the mentorship program and its aims. Volunteers will sign an informed consent to participate in the study and to provide data to project executors and Chamberlain College of Nursing management team. Informed consent and the questionnaires for the study will be stored electronically in a secured database of the college for seven years. The informed consent will be distributed separately to chosen volunteers after the introduction and Q&A session to ensure that they agree to participate freely.
Results
Sample: This portion should describe in detail the setting, the target or accessible population, the number contacted, the percentage participating, and the details of who participated. For inferences, an analysis of the representativeness of your sample characteristics should be done by comparing your sample to your accessible or target population. These data is best presented in tables detailing those demographic details that are important to the study. An analysis of the demographic data is required.
Table 2
Column Head
Column Head
Column Head
Column Head
Column Head
Row Head
123
123
123
123
Row Head
456
456
456
456
Row Head
789
789
789
789
Row Head
123
123
123
123
Row Head
456
456
456
456
Row Head
789
789
789
789
Note: [Place all tables for your paper in a tables section, following references (and, if applicable, footnotes). Start a new page for each table, include a table number and table title for each, as shown on this page. All explanatory text appears in a table note that follows the table, such as this one. Use the Table/Figure style, available on the Home tab, in the Styles gallery, to get the spacing between table and note. Tables in APA format can use single or 1.5 line spacing. Include a heading for every row and column, even if the content seems obvious. A default table style has been setup for this template that fits APA guidelines. To insert a table, on the Insert tab, click Table.]
Findings: This portion provides an interpretation of the major findings in the context of the overall purpose of the project. Present the statistical analyses of your primary outcome and process measures. Discuss how your major findings provide new knowledge or support previous findings that you found in the literature. Note how these findings add to the body of knowledge on this topic and support or expand on the theoretical framework you provided in Chapter I. There should be a clear relationship between the theory that drove the project to the findings presented and analyzed.
Figures Title
Figure 1. [Include all figures in their own section, following references (and footnotes and tables, if applicable). Include a numbered caption for each figure. Use the Table/Figure style for easy spacing between figure and caption.]
For more information about all elements of APA formatting, please consult the APA Style Manual, 6th Edition.
Discussion
This is where you can, and should, express your opinions regarding the results, implications, recommendations and the strengths and limitations of your project. Every study has strengths and limitations, so these should be stated.
If your results are similar to those found in previous studies, you may cautiously infer the results beyond your population and setting. However, if your results are completely different and/or contradict previous studies, you should let the reader know that these results cannot be used beyond the study population and setting.
Recommendations
Recommendations based on the findings should be for the nursing profession and society in general, and to specific nursing leaders as mentioned in the significance portion. A summary of the major findings concludes the findings and interpretations portion with a transitional paragraph introducing the recommendations portion. Recommendations should follow the same logical flow as the findings and interpretations. Include a narrative of topics that need closer examination to generate a new round of questions. Be sure to make specific recommendations for leaders in the nursing field and policy makers. Recommendations for future research should be detailed and extensive. This is a key area that students often fail to elaborate. What could other researchers do with the new information to find out more gaps as indicated by the new results? New doctoral learners often look in this portion for ideas on problems that remain to be solved so elaborating with detail leaves a legacy to new doctoral students to continue.
Conclusions and Implications for Nursing Practice
Conclusions should relate directly to your purpose and project question. They are generalizations that loop back to the existing literature on your topic. For each conclusion you make, cite the sources that support or contradict your findings. The conclusion should represent the contribution your practice project has made to the body of scientific knowledge on this topic and relate this to the significance of the project, which is always, in some way, to improve nursing practice. Conclusions indicate what is now known regarding nursing practice when your results and results from prior literature are considered together. Implications for nursing should report findings in Section I not reported by any other literature. Why should nursing leaders care? Meanings of any gaps or similarities to literature are critically analyzed and discussed for every unusual finding. What do the findings mean to nurse leaders, and would society care about the results?
Plans for Sustainability
Explain what will be done to sustain the project over time. What strategies will you put into place for the practicum site to ensure the project has ongoing evaluation and modification as needed to ensure its success after your implementation phase is complete?
References
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Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. (2012b). AMSN mentoring guide: Mentor guide. Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses.
Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. (2012c). AMSN mentoring guide: Site coordinator guide. Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses.
Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. (2020). Mentoring. Web.
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Grimshaw, J. (2000). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for evaluating guideline implementation strategies. Family Practice, 17(Supplemental 1), S11–S16. Web.
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Hollander, M., & Wolfe, D. A. (1999). Nonparametric statistical methods (2nd ed.). Wiley.
Horner, D. K. (2017). Mentoring: Positively influencing job satisfaction and retention of new hire nurse practitioners. Plastic Surgical Nursing, 37(1), 7-22. Web.
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Nursing preceptors are qualified, experienced, and adept nurses mandated to professionally guide new inexperienced graduate nurses and other new staff members joining the facility or department for a specified period. Their goal is to enhance the confidence and competence of the novice and new nurses to ensure they deliver high-standard care. On the other hand, nursing mentors are experienced nurses who serve as role models, providing professional support to the new graduates and experienced BSN inside and outside the working environment for an unspecified period of time. Nurse preceptors and mentors are critical pillars in enhancing nursing professionalism and competence.
New graduates benefit from the preceptorship by acquiring the required assistance to put the knowledge they gained during their training into practice. For the case of experienced BSN, it helps in instilling confidence and a sense of belonging in the place of work. In addition, it promotes self-identity to pursue professional development needs for both the new graduate and experienced BSN (Carson-Newman University, 2021). On the other hand, mentorship helps develop leadership skills such as accountability in health care delivery, proper communication skills, collaboration, and teamwork for new graduates. Experienced BSN acquires skills in handling administrative tasks, supervision, and effective patient care in their new departments (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2020). Generally, the benefits gained from the nurse preceptor and mentor do not differ but complement each other.
The recommended duration for precentorship is 12 months from the time of joining the facility. This is adequate time for new graduate preceptee to familiarize themselves with their roles and responsibilities. Experienced BSN preceptee learn about emerging practices in their current departments, job descriptions, and general expectations as duly qualified registered nurses. However, their precentorship duration should be less than 12 months since they already have experience and have served in different capacities. (CapitalNurse, 2017). Mentorship for new graduates has no time limits since there is new knowledge development every day through experiences while going about daily duties; learning is endless. They take part in handling critical cases and experience how decisions are made by factoring in what is urgent against what is not. Experienced BSN benefits from the exchange of new ideas and efficient ways of tackling emerging issues in the nursing fraternity (Setati & Nkosi, 2017). It also raises their confidence since they are involved and sometimes consulted while making important decisions within the department
Any experienced nurse can volunteer as a mentor, and a mentee can approach them in volition. If mentees feel they are not getting the relevant support they need, they are free to choose any qualified and competent mentor of their choice to be a role model; however, whoever they opt for must be experienced and competent (Mills, 2021). If receptors are not delivering what they ought to, they are reported to relevant authorities (Union Media, n.d.). This will allow them to take measures to address the issues without interfering with normal operations in the affected department.
As a requirement of any conflict resolution, there must be an admission from parties involved that it does exist. Once achieved, a sit-down to address the issue is organized, and rules are set. Everyone involved must express willingness to resolve the issue without conditions or offending anyone. Suppose there is no achievement of an amicable solution; a third has to be involved as a mediator to bring a solution that will enable smooth operations and coordination of the department (OHSU, n.d.). This approach is applied to both new graduates and experienced BSN with their respective preceptors and mentors.
It is possible to determine several core competencies for nurses while speaking about the quality of their work and provided care. However, it is also important to pay attention to specific competencies that are related to the field of leadership in nursing. Coaching and mentoring should be discussed as competencies that need to be associated with the nurse’s leader role (Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, & O’Grady, 2013, p. 193). From this point, it is important to state why coaching and mentoring need to be considered as nurses’ core competencies, what coaching activities can be performed, and what mentoring activities can be considered as meaningful.
Coaching and Mentoring as Core Competencies
It is significant to discuss coaching and mentoring as nurses’ core competencies because one of the responsibilities typical for advanced nurse practitioners is staff education and development. The roles and responsibilities of advanced nurses are rather expanded today, and it is expected that nurses will work not only as care providers but also as leaders who are mentors and role models for those nurses who only start working in the concrete environment (Thompson, Wolf, & Sabatine, 2012, p. 536). In this context, mentoring is an important responsibility for advanced nurses oriented to transfer their knowledge to other nurses effectively. Coaching is also associated with providing guidance for other nurses; however, the scope of coaching is wider, and it is expected that nurses will provide guidance for patients on their health (Thompson et al., 2012, p. 538). From this point, it is also impossible to ignore coaching as a competence.
The Coaching Activity
Coaches work with patients individually, while focusing on their specific needs. Therefore, the most typical coaching activity that needs to be discussed in this area is a lecture on ways to prevent epidemics in the community. In order to work effectively as a coach, it is necessary to address the risks of epidemics for each patient individually, depending on the patient’s everyday activities, health status, and lifestyle (Clavelle, Drenkard, Tullai-McGuinness, & Fitzpatrick, 2012, p. 196). From this point, strategies implemented by coaches need to be both individual and effective to address the needs of each person in the community (Thompson et al., 2012, p. 538). While conducting a lecture on the risks of epidemics for the patient, a good coach also takes into account the patient’s medical history and level of responsibility among other factors.
The Mentoring Activity
In order to improve leadership, communication, and decision-making skills, a mentor can provide an advanced nurse with case studies that are important to be analyzed while developing an appropriate scenario and a professional solution. Case studies on different topics are critical for an inexperienced advanced practice nurse because they are a kind of simulations according to which nurses can learn their new roles and adapt to the new working environments (Johnson, Billingsley, Crichlow, & Ferrell, 2011, p. 120; Thompson et al., 2012, p. 537). The use of case studies for the teaching-learning process during the mentoring sessions cannot be discussed as a structured activity, but its effect on the development of the nurses’ leadership and professional skills can be significant.
Conclusion
Coaching and mentoring are important areas to help nurses in developing their potential as guides and learners. Performing as a coach, a nurse takes responsibilities as a leader and she can influence the patient’s behavior. Taking a role of a mentor, a nurse helps other personnel to adapt to the working conditions. Being taught by a mentor, a nurse receives the opportunity to develop her own potential.
References
Clavelle, J., Drenkard, K., Tullai-McGuinness, S., & Fitzpatrick, J. (2012). Transformational leadership practices of chief nursing officers in Magnet organizations. Journal of Nursing Administration, 42(4), 195-201. Web.
Hamric, A. B., Hanson, C., Tracy, M. F., & O’Grady, E. (2013). Advanced practice nursing: An integrative approach (5th ed). New York, NY: Saunders.
Johnson, J., Billingsley, M., Crichlow, T., & Ferrell, E. (2011). Professional development for nurses: Mentoring along the u-shaped curve. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 35(2), 119-125. Web.
Thompson, R., Wolf, D., & Sabatine, J. (2012). Mentoring and coaching: A model guiding professional nurses to executive success. Journal of Nursing Administration, 42(11), 536–541. Web.
The Summer Undergraduate Mentorship Program (SUMP) of the Hispanic Center of Excellence provides unique opportunities for students from underrepresented groups to which I belong. Therefore, my expectations from this program are rather high. I hope to observe and participate in a variety of activities, focusing on the development of my professional skills. Shadowing a mentor is an excellent opportunity to experience first-hand the environment of my future profession. Instead of merely listening to professors, I will be able to follow every move of a real doctor who has years of practical experience. I will have the opportunity to pay attention to the tiniest details and notice something new every day. I think that this will be a fantastic chance to learn about medicine from the inside, from the point of view of a practicing doctor, rather than as a student.
Another expectation is related to the opportunity to participate in a variety of medical lectures. At my university, all our professors are highly-esteemed, and their lectures are always informative and interesting. However, the SUMP provides access to a great concentration of learning material within a short time period. With the help of the program, I hope to enrich my professional knowledge and learn something new every day. Also, I think that my fellow participants will be able to share their opinions with each other, as well as the mentors, which will provide a chance to hear some constructive critiques and enable me to work on self-improvement.
The SUMP offers other exciting opportunities which I will gladly seize. Participation in the hands-on workshop is something I have been dreaming of for a long time. In real-life conditions, students will apply the knowledge they have gained over the last few years to show how good they are in their chosen field. Along with shadowing a mentor, this workshop is a unique chance for students to excel in their chosen sphere of medicine, and I would not like to miss such an opportunity.
Another aspect provided by the SUMP that I am looking forward to is the literature review under a research mentor’s guidance and the help of medical librarians. Being an eager learner and researcher, I always try to work on the improvement of my research skills. I believe that this option provided by the SUMP will play an important role in the enhancement of my skills and will give me lessons on how to conduct better research in the future. Literature research is an invaluable part of any serious scholarly work, and I think that by providing this option, the SUMP will enrich the participants’ skills on how to perform this vital search.
Finally, it is not only the learning opportunities that I am so much looking forward to on the program. I also expect to meet many eager young people just like me and hope to make new friendships. I want to see the light in their eyes and make sure that we are all on the same track of making the world a better place. Meeting with people belonging to underrepresented groups gives an opportunity to hear many exciting stories from various backgrounds and exchange learning and life experiences. I think that the Summer Undergraduate Mentorship Program is a rare chance to participate in a series of exciting events that will broaden the participants’ professional and personal horizons. I do hope to become a part of this program and use all of the opportunities it generously offers.
What I Can Offer to the Program
Not only do I plan to learn new skills during the SUMP but I also feel I can contribute back to it positively as well. My academic, volunteer and professional experiences will be of great help during the project. I am willing to apply all the knowledge and skills I have to assist everyone and serve as a source of inspiration for others. I would like to elaborate on some of my achievements in order to make clear why I think that the program committee might find me one of the most suitable candidates.
The first thing I would like to elaborate on is my academic success. Ever since school, I have made it my goal to succeed and excel, and I have done everything possible not to betray this purpose. I have always worked hard and achieved the best results in my studies. In high school, I initiated opening a chess club, which led to a series of awards and nominations. One of the most memorable things was my nomination to attend the National Student Leadership Conference in 2015.
At college, I am very conscious of both my personal and professional development. These endeavors found their reflection in a series of coursework, each of which was given “A” grades. I wrote works on calculus (2015-2016), economics and government (2015-2016), and an introduction to gaming (2014). Also, I completed two credits for an art portfolio class (2014) and conducted an independent study (2015). All of these helped me to deepen my knowledge of a variety of subjects and made me understand the nature of different concepts. All these endeavors show that I am a persistent learner who is not afraid of taking initiative. I am always ready to learn and help others enrich their own knowledge base.
My other activities at college include participation in several programs in which I have been very successful. In 2016, I won the essay contest “Are We All Scientists Now?” in which freshmen students of Hofstra University participated. In the same year, I took part in a discovery leadership program where I developed my social awareness and community empowerment skills. In 2017, I worked in the volunteer pathology lab at Westchester Medical Center. This experience helped me to understand the peculiarities of my future profession better by arranging the possibility of my assimilation to actual hospital conditions. I was helping people in need, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to apply my skills to make the lives of people easier.
Apart from a rich volunteer experience, including leading the school and college chess team, working at camps and laboratories, and taking care of a peer who is seriously ill, I also enjoy participating in extracurricular activities. The most memorable of them was participating in a social advert, “Shabbat: Stop. Rest. Enjoy” which highlighted the value of spending time with one’s family.
My professional, academic, and volunteer experience demonstrates how dedicated I am to medicine and how determined I am to pursue a successful career in this field. I am not afraid of hard work, and I am always willing to face challenges, especially when I know that they will bring valuable experience. I want to serve as a good example for others, and I am always happy to learn something new. I believe that the combination of my qualities and goals makes me a perfect candidate for participation in the SUMP.
Volunteer Work I Have Done in My Community
I have always considered volunteer work as an indispensable part of any person’s life. Personally, I have frequently participated in volunteer activities because I believe that it is my duty to help those who have less knowledge or fewer possibilities to obtain access to better opportunities. The list of my volunteer activities is long, but I am never planning to stop. I sincerely believe that it is up to every person to make this world a better place.
Since high school, I have been particularly involved in the chess team, serving as Team Leader since 2009 (Instructor since 2012 and Captain since 2009). In this role, I have served as a mentor while teaching beginner and intermediate chess to students in grades K-8. For my hard work, I was nominated to attend the National Student Leadership Conference for Iona Preparatory School, and I have been a member of the United States Chess Federation since 2004.
My volunteer work also includes completing at least 65 hours of annual community service since my freshman year. Every summer, for several years now, I have been serving as a Volunteer Camp Counselor at Brother Edmund Rice Camp. Additionally, last summer, I was a Teacher Assistant for Dr. Lee Stemkoski at Adelphi University, the first time a high school student has been chosen for this role. During the last two summers, I earned seven college credits while teaching an Introduction to the Game course at Adelphi University. My interest in technology was reflected in another volunteer achievement. In 2014, I built a computer with database security at a law firm.
Since February 2015, I have been participating in the Youth Services Opportunity Project (YSOP) of New York. My duties there were cooking and delivering food to the homeless. I find this experience one of the most valuable of all since feeding someone who is suffering from hunger is one of the noblest things in life. During this experience, I learned how little is sometimes enough to make people extremely happy and grateful. In such a high-paced modern society today, we frequently forget to look around and see the people who really need our help and support. I made it one of my goals not to neglect a cry for help and always provide support to others when I can.
The thing I find the most rewarding in a moral sense is the one I started doing in 2014. Several years ago, I became a “Good Samaritan” for a disabled student, Russell Taormina, who was undergoing chemotherapy. The story is featured here. I provide this student with tutoring services and carry his books to all classes. However, Russell has given me much more. He has taught me patience and given me invaluable lessons of courage. Most of all, he has inspired me to pursue a career in medicine to be able to help more people like him and many others in need.
Speaking of one’s volunteer work is not an easy task because whatever is done out of goodwill should not be boasted about. However, it is necessary to talk about it to encourage others to join the efforts aimed at relieving someone’s pain or hunger. Volunteer work is something I sincerely enjoy doing, and I hope to inspire other participants of the SUMP to join some of the programs in which I participate, or be invited to new ones by other students.
Personal Statement
My interest in the field of medicine started several years ago, and it was greatly influenced by one of the aspects of my volunteer work. I became a “Good Samaritan” for a student from my community who suffered from a severe disease. Watching him struggle every day, seeing the tremendous efforts his doctors made to keep him alive and provide him with better healthcare opportunities, I realized that a profession related to medicine is the noblest and rewarding one. Another thing that played a crucial role in the choice of my future profession was my Italian background.
People often think that being of Italian descent means that I am good at cooking, eat a lot, and walk around saying, “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.” False stereotypes and references to The Godfather aside, being an Italian goes hand in hand with a rich tradition of religion and culture that spans centuries. From the rise of the Roman Empire to the creation of modern-day Italy, one cannot help but think of where we, as Italians, have come from, which paths our ancestors took for us to be here today, and what potential future is on the horizon for the next generations. It is this anticipation of what may come that has driven me to pursue a career in medicine. The first medical school in Europe, the School of Salerno, was located in Italy and it was an Italian doctor, Giovanni Battista Morgagni, who founded pathological anatomy. It is these little pieces of knowledge about the contributions of Italians to the field of medicine that truly fascinate me since they demonstrate just how much our culture has contributed to the foundation of the world of modern medicine.
While it is true that the latest developments in present-day medicine belong to large corporations and universities with corporate funding, the fact remains that much of what can be seen in modern hospitals may be attributed to Italian medical pioneers. Strangely enough, despite their considerable contributions to the sphere of medicine, it has taken quite some time for people of Italian descent to break into healthcare in the United States. It seems even more unfair when one comes to consider the fact that Italians have always been known as great inventors, thinkers, and practitioners. For instance, Salvino degli Armati (born in 1258) is widely considered to be the creator of eyeglasses, Alessandro Volta (born in 1745) created the first prototype of the electric batteries used in many devices today, and Giovanni Caselli (born in 1815) was one of the original inventors of the predecessor to fax machines that were so widely used prior to the popularization of the internet. These are only a few of the dozens of Italian inventors, philosophers, and artists who contributed immensely to shaping the world we know today.
Not only does my culture have a great impact on my personal development and worldview, but my family does as well. I was raised in an atmosphere of love, respect, sympathy, and deep faith. I believe that all of these factors, along with my magnificent family, predetermined my desire to study medicine. The medical profession is one of the most exhausting but, at the same time, most rewarding ones. At my current stage of life, I have come to realize that being Italian and Catholic is intertwined since I have faith that God will guide me to achieve my aspirations and become who and what I want to be. To emphasize my Italian roots and honor the dearest person in the world to me, I changed my last name to include my mother. She is the person I admire most of all, and I always take inspiration from her immense experience and wisdom.
Being a person from a different cultural background, I understand and respect other cultures and value their achievements. Since I hope to participate in a program held at the Hispanic Center of excellence, I want to pay due respect to the contributions made by Hispanic Americans to the field of medicine. As well as Italians, these people have made some incredible achievements, the products of which are used all over the world to improve people’s health. Miguel Angel Ondetti invented one of the most successful hypertension treatment methods: angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. Claudio Castillón Lévano is the creator of the Neonatal Artificial Bubble used to support newborns with health risks. Luis Miramontes came up with the idea of progestin norethindrone which is used in oral contraceptives. Jesus Maria Sanchez-Pérez, a neurosurgeon of Hispanic descent, invented Serial Roentgenography. Elena T. Medo invented a breast pump system using a wall vacuum source. These and many other contributions of the people of Hispanic descent to the development of medicine are truly fascinating and inspiring. It will be an honor for me to participate in a project created and founded on the basis of the Hispanic Center of Excellence.
During the mentorship practice, I expect to accomplish several personal and professional goals. First and foremost, I want to increase my knowledge of my future profession by being given a chance to observe a mentor closely and follow every step they make. I think the opportunity to gain this experience is the major reason why I am applying for the program. However, other opportunities are no less valuable. I would like to absorb as much useful information as I can. I want to communicate with highly-skilled professionals, as well as like-minded peers. I believe that there is something I can learn both from professors and other students. I think that the SUMP will give me a chance to enrich the knowledge I have gained so far and will help me to share something with the other participants. I think that participation in this program is an invaluable opportunity for anyone who is truly dedicated to medicine and wants to connect their current studies in this field with their future career.
On the way towards my dream profession, I have already reached a number of achievements. I am an active participant in various volunteer projects, especially at my local medical center. I have won several scholarly contests in high school and at university. I enjoy participating in extracurricular activities and acting as a teacher for younger students. Above all, I have deep faith in God, and I am sure that with His help and guidance, I will be able to fulfill my plans. Hard work and a strong belief in my family and culture help me remember who I am and what I want to become. I think that this dedication and determination will assist me in making my dreams come true and making this world a better place.
Guiding students towards a better sense of understanding within their university life, from academics to extracurricular activities, is one of the primary goals of mentors, made pertinent by the rising numbers of international students. Integrating foreign pupils into internal structures would seem to be the ideal approach to helping students from abroad establish connections that would allow them to both feel welcome and comfortable in a new environment. However, a potentially high ratio of domestic to international advisers gives rise to questioning the origins of this misbalance and necessitates outlining some potential barriers that may exist for foreign guides. The unexploredness of the proposed topic creates an incentive for determining the numbers of international mentors and the difficulties that they face.
Statistics of Employment: Domestic versus International Mentors
Experienced international students could be the most common population group to participate in mentorship plans, with faculty members being present in a more guiding role. Taking Brown University as an example, 280 students were part of the 2017 International Mentoring Program (IMP). (“About the International Mentoring Program”). However, the IMP is only one of the seven programs provided by the university, which most probably furthers an imbalance between international and domestic guides, especially since the programs aim to connect like-minded students (“Mentoring and Professional Development”). The University of Oklahoma guidance programme demonstrated one of the most equalized numbers, with an 8 to 5 ratio of domestic versus international students (Young 55). On the other hand, Iowa State University states that they had 48 international to 12 national student mentors in 2013 (Young 51). This diversity in numbers allows theorizing that each university in the USA may create projects that provide conditions that are more favorable for either type of guides, but which are inevitably constrained by their students.
Reasons for Lower Employment Rates for International Mentors
There may be various reasons for a decrease in the number of international mentors, especially as one advances within the education profession, from a potential faculty bias to a simple lack of foreign custodians. Microaggressions and favoritism within universities may hold back the creation of affirmative mentorship programs, even among students (Hsieh and Seshadri 126). Additionally, guides, foreign as well as domestic, may be unwilling to share their experience or provide adequate guidance based on a fear of being replaced (Jones 64). Finally, the creation of an international body of mentors is only possible when students from abroad are present and enrolling, and a lack of such pupils curtails any such plans (“About the International Mentoring Program”). Furthermore, an essential detail is the possible feeling of “resentment among local faculty,” which overqualified foreign advisors may stimulate, even among students (Altbach and Yudkevich 6). Thus, a system of international guides relies on a wide variety of factors, most of which center on demographics but also the departments’ individual predispositions towards students.
Conclusion
The idea of America as a meeting place of cultures remains an essential aspect of every-day university life that various circumstances oppose, which in turn creates unfavorable conditions for international mentors. A lack of representation in faculties obstructs the creation of genuinely inclusive experiences for domestic and international students, especially in small institutions, for example, Brown University. Negative student experiences only help further advance this closed loop, the breaking of which requires addressing issues such as bias and negativity in faculties, as well as the admission of qualified international students.
Altbach, Philip G., and Maria Yudkevich. “International Faculty in 21st-Century Universities.” International Faculty in Higher Education: Comparative Perspectives on Recruitment, Integration, and Impact, edited by Maria Yudkevich, Taylor & Francis, 2016, pp. 1-14.
Hsieh, Alexander L., and Gita Seshadri. “Promoting Diversity and Multicultural Training in Higher Education: Calling in Faculty.” Promoting Ethnic Diversity and Multiculturalism in Higher Education, edited by Barbara Blummer et al., IGI Global, 2018, pp. 112-131.
Jones, Marion. “The Balancing Act of Mentoring: Mediating between Newcomers and Communities of Practice.” Mentoring in Education: An International Perspective, edited by Cedric Cullingford, Routledge, 2016, pp. 57-86.
In the United States, the key challenge faced by community college students is the lack of support and assistance because these individuals are often first-generation students, they can be described as non-traditional students, and they often represent vulnerable categories of populations. As a result, the lack of support to help them adapt to the campus culture and new academic environments can negatively influence the academic performance of many community college students who have low academic preparation and need assistance. One of the typical strategies to address this issue is mentoring, but the problem is that not all community colleges in the country have funds to implement effective mentoring programs involving the faculty and students.
To solve the problem of the lack of mentoring in many community colleges of the United States, the national government should guarantee that all community colleges in the country are obligated by a decree to implement formal mentoring programs. Currently, faculty mentoring and student mentoring are proposed in not all community colleges, and they are not financed appropriately to attract mentors and make these programs work effectively. The next step is the provision of funding for formal mentoring programs in all community colleges in the country to finance the work of mentors from the staff and students.
To address the discussed issue, it is necessary to target both legislative and executive branches of the national and state governments. The reason is that the authorities need to develop a decree according to which all community colleges will be obligated to implement formal mentoring programs, and they will be funded by the state, sponsors, and college resources. Also, it is necessary to guarantee that the policy or decree is enacted concerning the executive branch.
They created a national interest group that supports the interests of community college students can influence government officials through institutional advertising, creating iron triangles and grassroots lobbying. The first step is to contact the authorities in those community colleges where there are no formal mentor programs and spread the information about the necessity of such programs through institutional advertising. This approach will allow for involving more interested parties and creating issue networks or iron triangles as the next step. It is important to attract the faculty members, influential persons who have graduated from community colleges, politicians, the members of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, and the representatives of the government to the iron triangle to make them formulate the petition to the government to address the discussed issue in higher education. The next step will be contacting the government by the iron triangle members as part of the grassroots lobbying strategy.
Collective goods are defined as publicly available benefits that can be shared by all people, not only members of an interest group. In this case, the interest group will provide a collective good associated with improving the quality of support in community colleges for all community college students and members of their families who will be indirectly influenced by the initiative. The free-rider problem is associated with the fact that many people interested in resolving the issue do not participate in activities to overcome this concern. This problem will be addressed with the help of spreading the information about benefits of mentoring among community college faculties, students, and communities with the focus on the idea that this beneficial practice will be adopted in all institutions if it is discussed by supporters of the idea in higher educational circles, at conferences, and the state governmental level.
All these activities will be important to attract the attention of the public to the issue of mentoring in community colleges. Also, it is also necessary to combine efforts of the interest group with representatives of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership and other similar organizations in the United States. In this case, it is possible to achieve positive outcomes.
The relationship between the learner and the teacher is one of the most essential factors affecting the outcome of education and in the modern learning environment, the development of a cordial and effective relation between the two is often highlighted. Mentoring is an essential type of the relation between the two and it may be well comprehended as one to one relationship between two individuals based simply on the needs and aspirations of one, i.e. the mentee and the abilities and resources of the other, i.e. the mentor. In other words, mentoring is the planned intervention of selected adults from local business and community organizations in the practice of working with young people who may fail to realize their full potential. It is significant to consider that “effective mentoring is central to professional preparation.” (John Furlong, School Mentors and University Tutors: Lessons from the English Experiment, Volume 39, Number 1, Winter 2000, Theory into Practice, College of Education, The Ohio State University)
That is to say, a mentor supports and helps motivate a less experienced person to reach his/her true potential and therefore mentors are usually more experienced than the learner and provide support, encouragement and guidance. Thus, mentoring will best be comprehended as the process by which a mentee can gain help and advice from a mentor who may be a specialist in the field of work the mentee wants to enter and it is a process of working together to achieve agreed goals through smart targets. “Mentoring is a term generally used to describe a relationship between a less experienced individual, called a mentee or protégé, and a more experienced individual known as a mentor.” (Definition of Mentoring, Becky Wai-Packard). One fundamental concern of this paper has been to explicate the philosophy of mentoring model, focusing on the benefits of using mentoring model, and finding why it is a matter of great importance as well as to attempt a literature review based on scholar research on how mentoring model can be applied in learning.
It is an obvious fact that possessing a mentor has positive effects on every one’s career progression. When the concept of mentor is comprehended as “anyone who provides guidance, support, knowledge, and opportunities for whatever period the mentor and protege deem this help to be necessary,” an essential realization is that of “the need for several mentors or phases of mentoring. The conceptual framework for addressing this mentoring process is called the multiple mentor model. The model is based on the premise that mentoring is not a single event in the life of a worker but rather several events with different levels of mentoring.” (Burlew, L. (1991). Multiple mentor model: A conceptual framework. Journal of Career Development, 17(3), 213-221.) Among several levels of mentoring, the training mentor comes first who “guides the worker as he or she masters the job and acclimates to the new work environment, supports the worker until he or she feels capable of on-the-job responsibilities and comfortable within the organization, and suggests opportunities for the worker to make himself or herself more valuable to the organization” followed by the education mentor who “has a broader role involving foresight and an understanding of how one progresses in an occupation” (Burlew, L. (1991).
Multiple mentor model: A conceptual framework. Journal of Career Development, 17(3), 213-221.) Such a mentor concentrates on the future of the mentee and assists the worker in planning for the future or in making decisions about educational activities or in making contacts with successful professionals, developing the necessary qualifications to succeed in the career. “The third type, the development mentor, is involved in helping the worker to become a well-rounded individual. Some ways a mentor at this stage helps a worker to grow include enabling the individual to assess his or her strengths and weaknesses, develop a plan of action in order to make positive change, gain insight into future directions of the organization so he or she will be prepared for change, try creative talents in areas not previously explored, and network with many types of people for exposure to new ideas and styles of behavior.” (Burlew, L. (1991). Multiple mentor model: A conceptual framework. Journal of Career Development, 17(3), 213-221.) Therefore, these various types of mentor model provide the teacher trainee with maximum choices for the best selection to make.
The various types of mentoring models provide the educators with potential selection of the best model which suits their teaching environment as well as the style of mentoring. What is essential is the best choice of the model of mentoring. It is, therefore, important to consider a peer mentoring teacher education initiative which significantly aims at developing pre-service teachers’ capacities to participate successfully, both during their initial teacher education and throughout their teaching careers, in the learning communities. “Peer mentoring utilizes the latest conceptualization of mentoring, that of co-mentoring by Bona et al. or that proposed by Hargreaves and Fullan, where all teachers give and receive support. Such a conceptualization challenges the traditional assumption that the mentor knows best and is consistent with the latest approaches to teacher professional development, where teachers are encouraged to participate in learning communities.”
Teacher training and education programs in the present era has wider implications as only an appropriate knowledge and training in the philosophy and goals of the teacher preparation program, in the basic principles and practices of effective mentoring and supervision, and in a framework of effective teaching practice, can effectively meet the need for cooperating or mentor teachers. This factor points to the necessity of an efficient mentoring model that consistently touches every significant areas of effective mentoring. There is no generic model for a specific mentoring, but it is obvious that in an elementary science mentoring models that facilitate the understanding of science content, exploring elementary science pedagogical content knowledge through modeling, and off-site professional development workshops become effective.
Researches on the effect of a mentoring model for elementary science professional development “reveal that (a) one-to-one mentoring has short-term implications for implementing constructivist science teaching practices; (b) successful mentoring models include facilitating the understanding of science content, exploring elementary science pedagogical content knowledge through modeling, and off-site professional development workshops; and (c) understanding and working from the predispositions of the teachers is an essential component of effective professional development.” (The Effect of a Mentoring Model for Elementary Science Professional Development, Janice Koch and Ken Appleton Journal of Science Teacher Education (2007) 18:209–231)
It is necessary to understand that the development of practical mentoring models can best fulfill the need for a potential mentoring model. “Few models exist that provide consistency and focus to the development of mentoring programs in preservice teacher education. Of the literature that does exist, most articles focus on mentoring during the induction year(s) of the beginning teacher… However, little attention has been given in the literature to effective mentoring models for preservice teacher education programs… The kind of mentoring that preservice teachers receive is, at best, marginally effective.” (Carmen R. Giebelhaus and Connie L. Bowman, Teaching Mentors: Is It Worth the Effort? March/April 2002 [Vol. 95(No. 4)] The Journal of Educational Research, pp 246-7) In this situation, more focus needs to be provided on the model that effectively meets the requirements of an valuable mentoring model. Thus, in ultimate conclusion to the discussion of the several types of mentoring models, it is necessary that the most effective mentoring model is identified and developed for the purpose of future practices. Obviously, it becomes clear that mentoring model provides an effective means for a more cordial and positive relation between the teacher and the taught in a learning process which in turn improves the quality of education.
Bibliography
The Effect of a Mentoring Model for Elementary Science Professional Development, Janice Koch and Ken Appleton Journal of Science Teacher Education (2007) 18:209–231.
John Furlong, School Mentors and University Tutors: Lessons from the English Experiment, Volume 39, Number 1, 2000, Theory into Practice, College of Education, The Ohio State University.
Carmen R. Giebelhaus and Connie L. Bowman, Teaching Mentors: Is It Worth the Effort? 2002 [Vol. 95(No. 4)] The Journal of Educational Research, pp 246-7.
The ideas of improving one’s performance have become essential in a social context where achievements and growth are the direct indicators of personal success. For this reason, the notions of coaching and mentoring, which were primarily used in sports, have now become integrated into a variety of professional development programs. One of the most widespread tools used in terms of mentoring is the TED talks aimed at displaying one’s story or idea in order to provoke an inner response and desire to grow. Considering such a tool, one may assume that using TED talks in terms of coaching and mentoring is a beneficial technique when applied to promote creativity and mentorship frameworks.
Primarily, it is important to define the phenomena of coaching and mentoring. Researchers define coaching as “unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance” (Kamarudin et al., 2020, p. 291). Thus, coaching refers to a process of making a person use the maximum of their resources in order to improve overall self-perception and performability. Mentorship, on the other hand, stands for an act of facilitating and assisting another person’s development (Kamarudin et al., 2020). Hence, the primary difference between coaching and mentorship is that the former is more likely to obtain tangible goals to achieve, whereas the latter is more focused on the establishment of a proper relationship between the mentor and the mentee. Considering this information, it may be outlined that the introduction of TED talks within these two contexts has different intentions and learning outcomes.
When it comes to coaching, using TED talks serves mostly as a source of external motivation and role model following. Considering the fact that TED talks are frequently used as an example of one’s complicated success story, it may be necessary for the coachee to receive a proper amount of external motivation in the process. Such an approach becomes extremely efficient when regarded through the prism of the achievement motivation theory presented by McClelland (Anderman, 2020). According to the theory, every person is motivated by the need for achievement, affiliation, or power, with all these factors being predetermined by one’s cultural context (Anderman, 2020). Thus, by using this theory, it would be reasonable to assume that using TED talks helps find the examples of achievement that enable one’s motivation and growth.
On the other hand, the importance of TED talks in terms of mentoring is more focused on observing the patterns of achievement outlined by the speakers. Thus, one of the most commonly used mentoring techniques, the GROW model, serves as a foundation for a majority of TED talks. According to this framework, performance improvement comprises the notions of goal, reality, options, and way forward (Kamarudin et al., 2020). Thus, when introducing a TED talk, it is of paramount importance for the mentor to secure a thorough discussion of the speaker’s goal outlined at the beginning, the reality they faced in the way, the opportunities and options they embraced, and the paths they paved on the road to a successful outcome. In such a way, a mentee would be able to reflect on the constituents of success and outline personal milestones throughout the journey.
Having taken into consideration the aforementioned arguments, it may be concluded that TED talk as an educational tool is, by all means, beneficial in terms of coaching and mentoring. However, in order to secure efficiency, coaches and mentors are to recognize the goals they are willing to pursue in the process. Thus, when coaching, TED talks could become beneficial when used to motivate coachees to reach for new heights and learn from people’s mistakes. Mentoring, on the other hand, could use such a tool to showcase the ways in which people might reflect on an achievement.
References
Anderman, E. M. (2020). Achievement motivation theory: Balancing precision and utility. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61. Web.
Kamarudin, M. binti, Kamarudin, A. Y. binti, Darmi, R. binti, & Saad, N. S. binti M. (2020). A review of coaching and mentoring theories and models. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 9(2), 289–298. Web.
