Mentorship in the Clinical Environment

 

Mentorship in the Clinical Environment

Over the past decades, mentoring in the clinical environment has become the focus of much discussion and research. Mentoring is a powerful human resource empowerment tool for the transmission of skills and knowledge in a supportive environment. It is a crucial process in, which experienced healthcare providers share their experiences, values, knowledge, wisdom, skills, and challenges faced in the clinical environment with younger employees or students pursuing the course (Shapira-Lishchinsky 2012, p.437). Mentors play a crucial role in the clinical environment in that they create an environment where prospective employees are trained to be competent and productive in their duties. The process of mentoring facilitates novice practitioners and students towards more advanced and competent levels of clinical expertise. For the past years, mentoring has assisted experienced healthcare providers with specific skills and knowledge required to carry out their duties effectively (Halfer, Graf & Sullivan 2008, p.244). The process of mentoring requires determination, patience, and commitment. Mentors must work hard to attain their goals and objectives in the clinical setting. They must be friendly, approachable, and loving to attract clinical students. This paper discusses the value of mentoring in the clinical environment and the role mentors can play in facilitating learning and assessment in the clinical setting.

Mentoring clinical students has been known to be effectual in fostering professional and personal development. A research by Löfmark, Morberg, Öhlund  & Ilicki (2009, p.107) documented that, clinical students learn most in an environment that enhance a sense of belonging. In the clinical setting, mentors can facilitate learning and assessment in the healthcare by supporting, encouraging, and making students feel they are part of the team that can enhance great influence in the medical field. In essence, most clinical students experience many challenges than other professionals. Most students worry about lack of experience, handling difficult patients, or giving patients wrong medication or information. Some students worry about getting a secure job with good earnings (Mullaney 2011, p.3). With these challenges in mind, mentors can help clinical students to succeed in their careers regardless of the challenges encountered in the field.  Mentors can foster confidence to students by encouraging them to embrace every challenge in the medical field (Forsyth & Stoff 2009, p.588). Mentoring can allow clinical students to explore new ideas in the clinical setting and embrace every opportunity that enhance professional or personal development. To Halfer, Graf & Sullivan (2008, p.243), learning theories have laid a strong theoretical framework, which explain how mentoring process foster a successful learning in the clinical environment. In essence, learning theories are important since they explain how people learn, thereby helping many people understand the importance mentorship in the clinical environment. By definition, learning is the persistence change in the human performance that occurs when the learner interacts with the environment.

The three main learning theories that explain why mentoring process is crucial in the clinical setting are behaviorism, constructivism, and cognitive theories. Skinner was a prominent figure who left a superb reputation in the field of psychology. In his research, Skinner recognized that learning process is best manifested by change of behavior (Mullaney 2011, p.3). He also believed that a positive environment plays a crucial role in fostering a successful learning process. The theorist believed that human beings learn best in a supportive, encouraging, and responsive environment. Mentors or else teachers who support students create a responsive environment suitable for learning process. Arguing from the clinical setting perceptive, it is unquestionable that mentors should create a supportive learning environment where clinical students can conduct clinical practices effectively.  Paul Chance who was a prominent figure in the cognitive psychology believed that rewards are crucial in making students learn effectively (Mills & Mullins 2008, p.310). In brief, Paul Chance believed that effective learning process occurs when those in the authority or with adequate experience guide students towards what is expected of them. Based on this argument, mentors can improve students’ learning process by boosting their morale when conducting daily duties in the clinical setting.

In their research Mills & Mullins (2008, p.310), a student is more likely to understand the basic facts about clinical field, when he is motivated or praised after conducting a task successfully. Mentors can train clinical students to deliver quality patient care by highlighting past experiences where quality care was not delivered and the consequences that emerged. By so doing, a student may fear making the same mistakes in the future. Robust mentorship should help students reflect on their responsibilities in enhancing the well-being of patients. In other words, mentors should help clinical students to understand they have a crucial role in enhancing the well-being of patients (Halfer, Graf & Sullivan 2008, p.244).

To Shapira-Lishchinsky (2012, p.438), the unfamiliarity of clinical practices and fear of making mistakes in the clinical setting increases anxiety to most clinical students. This anxiety is due to lack of knowledge, fear of unknown, or doubt about the professional role. Nurse mentors can reduce the anxiety, doubt, or fear by using simulation, where clinical students conduct real life scenarios and case studies. In essence, most clinical students value acceptance, support, respect, familiarity, and recognition of the role and contribution to patients’ well-being. Behavioral learning theorists believe that a reward is a powerful reinforcement that increases the likelihood of the behavior occurring (Stick-Mueller et al 2010, p5). When a desirable behavior is established in the learning environment, then reinforcement maintains that behavior. Arguing from this context, mentors can provide reinforcement by encouraging clinical students to carry out their duties confidently. For instance, when a novice practitioner is learning how to inject insulin, the mentor can look for a positive behavior and then gives immediate reinforcement such as, “I like the way you injected, you did it an excellent way”. Such reinforcement would be crucial in the clinical setting as it would boost confidence to those without experience in the medical field. The process of mentoring would eventually boost performance, productivity, morale, and competent levels of clinical expertise (Stick-Mueller et al 2010, p5).

Cognitive learning theorists affirm that, learning is a significant internal process where information is transferred (Forsyth & Stoff 2009, p.587). Learning occurs through the exchange of information. With this, the way information is presented or transferred plays a crucial role in the clinical environment. Arguing from the cognitive perceptive, mentors help clinical students to learn what is expected of them in the clinical setting. Through mentorship, the learner gain adequate skills, knowledge, and experience to perform clinical tasks productively. Additionally, clinical students acquire increased competence and confidence in performing their tasks (Forsyth & Stoff 2009, p.588). The guidance and assistance that clinical mentors offer to clinical students are fundamental as they increase morale, satisfaction, and quality clinical skills. Mentors play a significant role in advising, befriending, motivating, assisting, and supporting students in the clinical environment. They also create a strong ground for students to understand how they can be competent in the medical field (Moss et al 2006, p.46).

In the clinical setting, mentoring has been known to boost skills, knowledge, and facts when conducting clinical practices. A clinical student with a mentor is more likely to perform his/her duties effectively than an individual without. A student can only improve in his clinical practices if he or she has a good role model who is competent and experienced in the field. In essence, mentors play a crucial role in assisting clinical students to conduct their roles in a professional and competent manner. Committed and effective mentors are crucial since they increase morale and work performance in the clinical setting. In their research, humanist learning theorists believe that learning cannot take place unless there is a supportive environment (Moss et al 2006, p.46). Healthcare providers succeed in their professional when their achievements or efforts are reinforced and recognized. When mentors support clinical students they create a supportive environment, which in turn facilitate effective learning process. Mentoring is a crucial process that cannot be underestimated since it fosters adequate information on how to enhance patients’ well-being. A clinical student with a mentor or a role model is more likely to conduct his or her duties effectively than an individual without a mentor (Potter, Abrams, Townson & Williams 2009, p.17).

To Sherman (2008, p.236), mentorship enhances accountability between the mentor and the student. Specifically, mentors can foster effective learning process by helping clinical students set career goals, and motivate them to make steps to achieve them. Such a mentorship would allow clinical students to understand how to foster quality care in the clinical setting. In other instances, mentors can help clinical students to measure, interpret, and respond to healthcare data. Also, healthcare providers would learn how to respond to various illness affecting patients (Sherman 2008, p.236). Mentors can facilitate effective learning and assessment in the medical field by helping novice practitioners to handle cultural differences that emerge in the workplace. A mentor could highlight the benefits that emerge when healthcare providers embrace every culture. Sherman continues to argue that; mentor can also create a strong ground where those without experiences can interact with those with adequate experience in the clinical environment. This increases morale and satisfaction since the student or novice practitioner could have someone to respond to every query in the clinical field. For instance, if a student wonders if he will get a job when he finishes his study, the mentor could guarantee him of many job opportunities available in the respective field. In this case, an individual without a mentor could be discouraged as he wonders whether he will get a job or not. Mentorship increases job satisfaction (Potter, Abrams, Townson & Williams 2009, p.17). It is crucial to note that, a novice practitioner interacting with an individual with adequate experience, skills, and knowledge in the clinical setting is more likely to be satisfied and motivated when conducting clinical practices. In most cases, this occurs because there is someone offering guidance, support, love, care, attention, and motivation (Sherman 2008, p.237).

To Moss et al (2006, p.46), a mentor can facilitate a successful learning environment when they impact novice practitioner with adequate skills, knowledge, and experience to conduct clinical practices. Although a mentor may not perform all tasks in the clinical setting, he may demonstrate a task to guide the student in carrying out his duties in future. For instance, a mentor may invite a nursing student when injecting a patient, which eventually would increase the students’ knowledge and skills. A mentor can also provide the students with tips of career growth, and explain how these tips are beneficial in the clinical setting. Moss et al (2006, p.47) believe that,  a mentor can also introduce a novice nurse to other qualified professionals, which would increase confidence and a sense of belonging in the workplace. Introducing a novice nurse to other experts in the health care would lay a clear picture that, everybody can achieve his or her dream with determination and total commitment. A nursing student may also benefit from the life experiences shared by the mentor. This would foster effective interaction between the mentor and the healthcare provider. Specifically, a student without any experience in the medical field could relate well to a mentor who has shared his life experience, education background, and career (Sherman 2008, p.236).

To Halfer, Graf & Sullivan (2008, p.244), self-evaluation is a crucial process that mentors can use to facilitate effective learning and assessment in the clinical environment. Although most mentors are more concerned with telling their follower on what should be done, it could be vital to pose a challenge. Instead of demanding the follower who in this case may be a nursing student or a novice practitioner to perform a specific task in a certain way, a mentor may challenge the student to think critically towards the task he has performed. If an individual truly wants to grow, he may have to evaluate himself/herself towards what he has done. In essence, a mentor can use several self-evaluation questions such as what have you learnt from your course and how can use the knowledge you have acquired in the clinical setting. Such questions would help a nursing student to set her goals, which eventually would enhance an effective learning process (Halfer, Graf & Sullivan 2008, p.245). Mentors can also use various tactics to impact knowledge to their followers in the clinical setting. For instance, a mentor can outline various current legal cases that have emerged in the clinical setting, and thereafter ask the student to respond to that case. This would ensure that the student understand laws governing nursing professional.

 

 

Bibliography

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