Finding a mentor

[LuBen]

I just finished my first term of nursing school, and it was an amazing experience. I had an instructor that was AMAZING! I leaned so many things from her, and really admire her. Anytime I had a problem she was there to help!

I will be starting my second term in a few weeks. While I am excited, I am also a little sad because I will only have one class with this instructor.

I have been thinking about asking her to be my mentor, but I am not sure if this is appropriate since she is still a teacher. Does anybody have any advise?

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

If she is adored by you, then she probably is adored by many. I don't know if she will be able to mentor you, but I would bet the farm that she could refer you to another mentor who is quite like her. Ask...there is no harm in that.

Kudos to you for seeking out a mentor. It is so helpful!

[kayern]

There is no harm in asking but I would venture to guess as an instructor she will pass the opportunity to mentor you while you are a student.

[ocean waves]

Hello. As a retired nursing instructor, I agree with the writers who say that your previous nursing teacher will probably not be able to agree to "directly" be your ongoing mentor while you are in school--each semester the primary focus of each instructor is on the many current students in one's class(not seen as "democratic" to "play favorites" and offer special counseling to only certain students). You may, however, be able to establish an "indirect" mentor relationship with this instructor by talking with her now and then when she may have assigned office hours for open advisement with aspiring candidates for the program and/or current students. Best wishes!

[Zookeeper3]

At first I thought "yes, yes yes", we need so many more mentors for our young nurses, then reality of thinking back to nursing school set in. So here is my advice:

If you are able to not pit a new instructor or any instructor and question them or their style or skills or the lack there of with this person.... and keep it completely about your PERSONAL growth as a nurse it can work.

The problem with nursing school is that you will come across many instructors that you dislike their style of teaching that doesn't work for you and want to confide those instances with perception and grading with your "mentor". That is unacceptable. You can never pit one instructor against the other, and you will find some "iffy" ones along the way. It's simply not fair or right to put a professional in this spot.

If you can promise to yourself and follow through with this, you can reap the wonderful rewards of a mentor that you've found so early in your career. It will be more of a challenge than you foresee though, and just trust my experience in that.

My mentor was a battle axe, 35 years of nursing in my first job, she took no prisioners and took no crap from management... what I learned from her in the "real world" a nursing school instructor could have never taught. Just food for thought, nursing mentors are out there once you are able to really nurse...

you don't have to like instructors, or love them, just LEARN from them