Changes in Mentoring Role in Health Care

Running head: HEALTH CARE
Health care
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1HEALTH CARE
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), one of the changes that has
been seen in the mentoring role is that mentors have been replaced by supervisors and practice
assessors effective from September 2019. Hence, earlier the mentor only played three roles of a
supervisor, assessor and a learning facilitator. However, now the three roles will come up
separately and the single role of mentors will be replaced. This implies that three new positions
will come up in nursing practice. The first role of practice supervisor will be taken up by
registered health and social care professional, whereas the others roles of practice assessor and
academic assessor will be assumed by registered nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2018).
This new change will mean that new nurses entering nursing practice will have to contact
practice supervisors instead of mentors to get support during learning. Practice supervisors will
prepare students for practice by providing supervision throughout their placement. They key
advantage of getting help from registered supervisor is that they can play a role in providing
extended placement opportunities to students
Post the NMC changes in the mentoring role, a new registered nurse who wish to
complete the pre-registration mental health nursing can get the opportunity to get advanced and
higher level support compared to what was available to nursing students earlier. According to the
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) statement regarding things to expect from a mentor, a new
nursing student now entering the mental health nursing field can get about 40% of the
supervision from their practice supervisors (Royal College of Nursing, 2019). The practice
supervisors, who are now going to assume the mentor’s role can now play a role in fully
engaging with students, understand their concern and directing patient care. Nursing students can
get a realistic picture of future practice through the collaboration with mentors. Moked and
Drach‐Zahavy (2016) gives the insight that apart from the expertise of supervisors, student’s