Evaluating Clinical Teaching and Mentoring in Nursing (NBBS1304)

This essay examines the critical role of clinical teaching and mentoring in nursing education, emphasizing its significance in shaping nursing professionals. It delves into the importance of mentorship, highlighting how mentors serve as role models and facilitate the acquisition of essential clinical skills and knowledge. The essay explores the attributes of an ideal mentor, including approachability, trustworthiness, and effective communication skills, and discusses the impact of transformational leadership in fostering positive learning environments. Furthermore, it analyzes the professional values and behaviors crucial for mentors to instill in novice nurses, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based practice and the development of therapeutic relationships with patients. The essay also addresses the challenges and potential future impacts on mentorship, such as understaffing, and stresses the need for organizational support to enhance the effectiveness of clinical teaching and mentoring programs. The analysis references relevant research and studies to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the key aspects of clinical teaching and mentoring within the nursing profession.

Running head: TEACHING IN NURSING
Teaching in Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Mentoring and clinical learning is an essential component in educating the nursing
professionals. The competence of the nursing professionals is based on the knowledge and
the skill taught to them. The overall approaches of monitoring in clinical nursing are broad.
Some of the mentors adhere to a rigid meeting schedule with definite goals, defined
expectation and research. Whereas, other group of mentors mainly follow a friendly
relationship in order train the novice nurses. For example, they guide the mentee through the
challenges by the use of different methodologies like transformational learning, per
mentoring and remediation (Jacobson & Sherrod, 2012). Effective mentoring and clinical
learning help the nursing students to gain proper clinical knowledge, nursing skills and
attitudes for delivering care and proper health education to the patients and their family
members. The aim of this essay to evaluate the issues related to clinical teaching and
mentoring in the nursing profession. In doing so, the paper will discuss the significance of
mentoring in clinical teaching followed by the attributes of an ideal mentor and the
professional values and behaviors of a mentor important for the novice nurses to deliver
quality care to the patient.
Significance of mentoring in clinical teaching
Role models play a crucial role in shaping up the identities of the students and the
mentors are often perceived to be the role models for the novice nurses or under graduated
nursing students (Chen, Watson & Hilton, 2018). Mentoring in clinical nursing helps the
novice nurses to work with and to emulate the senior qualified nurses towards progressing
through the clinical competencies and nursing skills during the process of nurse education
(Tuomikoski et al., 2019). Chen, Watson and Hilton (2018) stated that the novice nurses to
the nursing wards and hospital organizations require role models for overcoming the

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challenges that are experienced within the new environment and to acquire the required skills
and knowledge base. Tuomikoski et al. (2019) argued that the mentoring in the clinical
teaching of the nursing profession helps in the process of socialization and thereby helping to
increase the provision for therapeutic relationships with the patients and thereby helping to
improve the overall outcome of care. Socialization under the concept of novice nursing under
the new learning environment is important for the development of the student nurses. In this
case, the mentors play an important role in the process of socializations from both the
professional/behavioral perspective and role-model perspective. Here the novice nurses
imitate the good nurse or the mentor whom they consider as role model (Tuomikoski,
Ruotsalainen, Mikkonen and Kääriäinen, 2019). The importance of the mentorship in the
domain of the clinical teaching of nursing can be explained by taking reference to Bandura.
According to Bandura, majority of human behavior is learned observationally. This is done
through modeling or their observing others. This coded information mainly services as a
guide for action. Thus having a qualified yet knowledgeable mentor helps to excel in the
nursing clinical skills by getting proper guidance and a role model to imitate (Thomas,
Morgan & Harris, 2016). Tuomikoski et al. (2019) provided a detailed explanation about the
importance of the mentorship under the aspect of the clinical training of the nursing
professionals. Mentoring under clinical teaching set-up of the nursing profession, deals with
giving training to the novice nurses in the domain of the evidence-based practice guidelines
in therapy planning and implementation. Helminen et al. (2017) stated that there are
numerous reasons why the novice nursing professionals or the nursing students who are in
their final year of education fail to incorporate the proper evidence-based practice in clinical
practice. Some of the important reasons behind this gap in practice include lack of proper
knowledge and skills about application of the evidence-based practice guidelines, lack of
proper training and proper organizational support (Spiva et al., 2019). The pretest-posttest

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quasi-experimental study conducted by Spiva et al. (2019) over 66 mentors and 367 nurses
working in five different integrated healthcare system of United States showed that evidence-
based practice (EBP) mentors are influential in supporting and educating the nurses in
evidence-based care. It is the duty of the leaders to make use of the multifaceted approach in
educating and supporting the nurses under the EBP care. This multifaceted approach includes
skill-based training and knowledge development. Saunders and Vehviläinen‐Julkunen (2017)
stated that systematic implementation of EBP is important to improve effective patients’
outcomes. However, the novice nurses do not implement EBP guidelines while treating
patients. Lack of readiness of nurses in EBP and lack of EBP mentors are the two main
reasons. Saunders and Vehviläinen‐Julkunen (2017) further highlighted that training of the
novice nurses coming from the efficient mentors in the domain of selecting the systematic
review for the highlighting the EBP guidelines followed by proper implementation of the
same helps to increase the acceptance and implementation of EBP by novice. Proper training
coming from mentors of EBP guidelines help in integrating best evidence into the aspect of
the clinical care delivery. Jakubik et al. (2016) are of the opinion that mentoring is a solution
for the retention and proper succession planning in the nursing. The seven-part leadership
series in the mentorship is characterized by the transformational leadership guidelines. This
kind of leadership guidelines help to increase the knowledge of the novice nurses in EBP
implementation and thus helping to improve the overall quality of care.
Shaikh et al. (2015) stated that mentoring is increasing seen as a way of supporting
the holistic development among the nursing students and the novice nursing professionals.
However, there are significant variance within the process of mentoring practice and lack of
consensus in the process of understanding of the overall approach of mentoring in the clinical
training of the nursing professionals. The primary role of the nurse mentor in the process of
clinical training includes transmission of proper knowledge and skills among the nursing

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students by facilitating support in the process of clinical learning. The nurse mentor also
facilitates the process of feedback and evolution in the professional strength of mentee's.
Psychological support, role modeling, ethics, research and academic are other roles of
mentors in the nursing profession. Under psychological support, mentors offer motivation
and encouragement of the nursing students during stressful situation (Shaikh et al., 2015).
However, Helminen et al. (2019) are of the opinion that standard mentorship in
clinical nursing profession might get affected in the future due to severe understaffing of the
nursing professionals along with unrelenting pressure and constant change in the learning
environments. Thus, the government must come-up with proper efforts in order to increase
the overall staffing of the nursing professionals and thus decreasing the nurse turnover and
other.
Attributes of a mentor that is crucially required for providing relevant health teaching
Bharat, Kiran and Lekha (2018) suggested some of the important attributes of a
mentor in the clinical teaching aspect of the nursing profession include: approachable,
motivates, staying up-to-date about the current trends in practice trustworthy, empathetic,
adaptable, knowledgeable, friendly, proper communication skills, high level of confidence
adaptability and empathetic. Therefore, it can be stated that the pattern through which the
learner interprets this behavior from their role model is also important. The mentees or the
nursing students in the learning environment study and learn the new behavior from the
mentors and other senior nursing professionals. Thus, it is important for the mentor to remain
aware about this concept and the impact of their actions have over the life of the students in
the domain of both personal and professional skills. Bharat, Kiran and Lekha (2018) stated
that drenched of uninterested mentor might significantly produce a detached or uninterested
nursing students.

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Saravo, Netzel and Kiesewetter (2017) stated that the use of the transformational
leadership in the mentoring program of the nurses must be an amalgamation of
transformational transactional leadership. Transformational leader mainly exert influence
over the followers based on the exchanging benefits for the outstanding performance and the
response towards the self-interests when they are successful in achieving the planned goals.
On contrary, the transformational leadership defines leaders who refuse the take charge of
their leadership and mainly act as a passive leader. During the initial stage of the training
cycle, as a mentor for the novice nurses, the execution of the transformational leadership is
helpful for facilitating the development of the therapeutic relationship with the mentees. This
help to increase the level of bonding and thereby helping to execute proper teaching process.
In the latter half of the clinical training process, the clinical mentors mainly take the role of
transactional leadership. Being a transactional leader, the mentors take the passive role and
thus allowing the trainees, who have attended the initial level of training to take the EBP
decisions on their own. This in turn helps to develop the critical thinking and logical
reasoning skills of the nurse students and thus helping to improve the overall efficiency of
practice and outcome of care. Saravo, Netzel and Kiesewetter (2017) further stated that
transformational and transactional leadership are conceptualized as two different yet
interrelated components of leadership behavior and thus proper leadership program in the
mentorship of the novice nurses must address both the components. Fischer et al. (2017)
stated that transformational leadership style under clinical nurse mentorship help in
influencing the culture of teamwork and thus helping the nurse students to excel in their
professional life.
In order to understand the attributes and the benefits of a good mentor, Wachira
(2019) conducted a qualitative study with the help of interview. The analysis of the interview
results conducted over the nursing students who are in their clinical training showed that

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nursing students have both positive and negative experience in the undertaking mentor-based
training during their clinical exposure. Friendly mentorship based on transformational
leadership helps in positive professional growth among the nursing students. Mentorship
done with inadequate time with lack of cooperation coming from the mentors, hamper the
overall process of knowledge exchange. Wachira (2019) recommended the administrative
body of the college to liase with the hospital management in order to identify potential
clinical mentors for improving the overall outcomes of the training process.
Eller, Lev and Feurer (2014) argued that despite the established importance of
mentoring, limited knowledge is present in the domain of specific mentoring behaviors
resulting in the positive health outcomes. Thus Eller, Lev and Feurer (2014) conducted a
study in order to identify the key components of an effective mentoring relationship that are
being identified with the help of the protégés-mentor dyads under clinical nursing settings.
The analysis of the qualitative data collected from the participants from 12 different
universities of U.S showed existence of dialogue between the existing nurse mentor protégé
dyads along with student nursing staffs and official faculty members considering the
mentoring relationship. The report also showed that nurse educators can examine and modify
their mentoring behavior according to the need and thus strengthening the overall mentor-
protégé relationship in order to ensure positive outcome of the entire clinical learning session.
Shaikh (2017) stated that in order to provide proper health teaching to the patient, the
duty of the nurse mentor is to execute the proper use of the effective communication skill.
Use of the effective communication skills (verbal and non-verbal) helps in increasing the
scope of development of therapeutic relationship with the patients. Development therapeutic
relationship with the patients helps in development of trust and thus helping in the proper
exchange of the information between the patient and the nurse and thus helping to highlight
the clinical priority (Shaikh, 2017).

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Role model, professional values and behaviors
Poorchangizi et al. (2019) stated that the professional values of the nursing students
are influenced by the professional values of their role models or mentors during their clinical
practice. This highlights the importance of having strong role models in the nursing clinical
training sessions in order to shape up the professionals behavior of the aspiring nursing
students. The most important values that are being recognized by the mentors during the
session of the clinical teaching include maintaining confidentiality of the patients and safe
guarding the patients’ right to privacy. The values that are considered less important to the
mentors include participating in the decision-making policy of public health that are affecting
the distribution of the resources and participating in peer review. At the end, Poorchangizi et
al. (2019) have concluded that additional strategies might be necessary to comprehensively
institutionalize the professional values among the students of nursing. Godshall et al. (2016)
stated that the patients expect to be cared for by the nursing professionals who are competent
and behave professionally. Thus, the nursing students must be educated to develop the
professional values and behaviors. The professional values must underpin proper education
and practice. Felstead (2013) argued that amplification of the proper professional code of
conduct by the role models in the nursing clinical teaching influence the development of
professionalism among the nursing students. Proper stimulation of the discussion between the
nurse educators and the nurse students about their impact in role modeling help to promote
professionalism among the nurse students. This development of the professional behavior
helps to influence the practice development and thus increasing the level of patients’
satisfaction. Kaya and Boz (2019) highlighted that use of The Professional Values Model by
the role models in the clinical training helps to increase the motivation of the novice nurses.
Increase in the level of motivation helps in improving the level of job satisfaction and thereby
helping to improve the outcome of care. Shaikh et al. (2017) stated that role modeling in

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nursing mentorship helps to shape up the ideas, attitudes and values of the nurses while
empowering them with positive energy and confidence. Shaikh et al. (2017) also argued that
main ethical guidelines provided by the mentors during the training session include skills and
tools for fighting against the ethical dilemmas.
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the mentor or the mentorship
holds prime importance in the clinical learning of the nursing students. The impact of the
mentor on the novice nurse practitioner and the aspiring nurses can never be underestimated
under the context of the busy nursing environment of healthcare setup. In this paper the
importance of the mentorship and role model in nursing is critically explored along with
analysis of the standard attributes of a nurse mentor in clinical training. The analysis of the
articles highlighted that the nurse mentor play an important role in shaping up the
professional values and ethics in the nursing profession. The mentorship program in nursing
also helps to improve the overall outcome of care by increasing the overall quality and
stamina of the nursing professionals to withstand burnout and compassion fatigue. At the end,
it can be stated that the environment for mentoring do not develop in isolation, free from any
external influences. Thus, the future direction of research, it would seem that it would be
pertinent to focus beyond what we already know about the effectiveness. Thus, shifting the
focus towards the internal process of mentoring relationships along with wider organizational
and environmental factors to promote fresh insight into the process.

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