Mentor, Mentor...Where Art Thou?: A Path Towards Professional Mentorship

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

The focus of this blog post is to elaborate and to come to an understanding as to what Mentorship is and what it can provide for you as a care giver in psychiatric nursing. I will also explore a bit of the similarities and differences of mentorship versus clinical supervision. In some ways, the two may overlap and overlap greatly. In some ways, the two may become two totally separate processes. Much depends upon: how you enter the field of psychiatric nursing, your past educational/clinical experiences, your current knowledge base, the type of licensure you carry, future educational pursuits or dreams, and what you hope to gain as a professional on a personal level.

Mentorship is a "mutually agreed upon relationship" between "you and another who has more experience/knowledge." The understanding of this agreement is that you will learn at your best ability what this mentor has to provide to further your growth as a professional nurse. The mentor understands that he/she will be a primary source of information, resource, and support to you, making him/herself available. This contract can be made either formally (written) or informally (unwritten).

Clinical Supervision is similar to mentorship in that it also provides information, resource, and support...but is more structured or rigorous and is either a part of one's initial training (ie nursing student) or is part of a process towards licensure (ie advanced practice nursing). Often times, clinical supervision is an expectation imposed upon you by an outside party...a nursing program, a licensing board, or even perhaps the facility of employment. More times than not, this contract is a formal (written) one.

However, before beginning the process of mentoring (or even clinical supervision), it may be best to explore your own needs and what you hope to accomplish first. This is important for several reasons. One important reason is that you wish to gain as much as you can from this experience. Your personal growth is valuable to you. By investing some upfront time, it helps to ensure that your mentorship will pay off for you, getting all your needs met. Another reason is that it will help you organize your plan better...before presenting it to your potential mentor. What areas need to be your focus? Where do your difficulties lie? What are your perceived strengths and weaknesses? How much time will you need? And how will you know when your needs are being met? These are but a few questions that you may ask yourself. Another reason to pre-plan is that it demonstrates to you and to your potential mentor that you take your mentorship seriously. I often look upon mentorship as "going back to school"...but tailored to meet your own specific needs at this particular time in your professional life.

There are a couple ways to pre-plan your mentorship. One way is to sit down with a pen and pad of paper. In this process, you may list everything that comes to mind. You can approach this in free form, just writing as much as can down without any sort of logic or order. The important thing is to get it out on paper, to visualize it for yourself. Take several days or weeks if needed in order to accomplish this, giving yourself adequate time to explore. Later on when you are finished, then you may organize your thoughts on paper in a more logical form (the beginning of your plan/contract). A different (but similar) approach (instead of using a pen and pad initially) is to use a tape recorder. Carry your tape recorder with you throughout your day. Record all your ideas as they come to you. Again, provide yourself adequate time over several days or weeks. After you have recorded enough, then spend an evening listening to your recording. Then take out a pen and pad and write down what you have recorded. As you listen or after you've written it all down, you may come up with additional ideas to write in your notes. When you are finished, you may then organize your thoughts on paper in a logical form.

Now we come to the plan itself. If you have pre-planned, this process will become much easier for you because all you have to do is fill in your blanks. The plan or contract is what I often refer to as a personal syllabis for one's professional growth and development as a professional psychiatric nurse. It provides the structure for the experience, the criteria and outcomes to be observed...in either outline or narrative format. It also lays it out black and white as to what your learning experience needs to encompass. Again, your experience and time are valuable...and equally as important, so are your mentor's. By having it laid out for both you and your mentor, it provides your potential mentor the opportunity to evaluate if he/she is the best person for this experience. When a plan is structured and spells it out, there leaves little room for doubt in what you hope to accomplish and need. If the potential mentor agrees that he/she can provide this experience, then you both have a clear understanding as to what your relationship will provide. This is also a time where you and your potential mentor can negotiate or tailor the plan even more. Either way, the relationship at the onset becomes defined and becomes mutually agreed upon. Time limits may also be set...when the learning relationship begins and when it will end. After the negotiation is complete, both parties are provided a copy of the plan in order to refer back to during the course of the experience.

Mentorship is a mutually agreed upon learning relationship between you and another professional with higher knowledge and experience that aims to foster your professional growth and development as a professional nurse. In this case of example, we are referring to psychiatric nursing. In order for mentorship to be effective, regular times for meeting together are paramount. This may be done by several ways. One way is by working together, then agreeing to meet on a regular basis to discuss the experience. Another way is by shadowing...either your shadowing your mentor or your mentor shadowing you, then meeting together to discuss the experience. Another way is simply going to your work solo and agreeing to meet once or twice a week at a scheduled time in order to discuss. In this scenario, during the course of the week, you are referring back to your mentorship plan as you go to work, putting some of your plan into place as you prepare to bring back to your mentor material or even a case study for discussion.

When meeting with your mentor, both should have your plan readily available to review, discuss, and to plan (if needed) additional opportunities for growth. Together, you can review your progress and how you are meeting what you set off to accomplish. Asking and answering questions are an integral part of your discussion. Exploration of clinical knowledge, procedures, policies, and techniques regarding patients, colleagues, and the facility can be brought to the table. Your personal feelings of accomplishment and self doubt can also be addressed. You and your mentor can brainstorm new or additional ideas, critically think and problem solve, and generate assignments of learning together. You both may agree upon setting up some time for your mentor to take on the traditional role of an instructor...providing you some lecture time, providing you reading material, providing you an assignment, or taking you hand by hand, step by step, through an actual scenario or experience. Taking notes is often helpful. At the conclusion of your meeting, you agree upon the next meeting time and schedule it.

Mentorship is an excellent process to further one's growth as a new nurse. It is also an excellent process for even a seasoned nurse, if performed in the manner described above. Often, however, this tends not to be the case and is frequently underutilized in this manner. This may be one of our shortcomings in our field called nursing...overlooking our own talent right in front of us on a day to day basis. However, as seasoned nurses, if professional mentorship were provided as an available opportunity, some great things could happen as a result. Burnout may be lessened or may even be prevented. Placing value on current staff's nursing education and experience may improve the retention rates of valuable staff. Improved communication and mutual respect among colleagues may also be witnessed. And lastly, patient care and health indicators, as well as patient satisfaction scorings, may actually demonstrate more positive outcomes. As nurses, new and seasoned, we all have something we need to learn and to share. If this sharing was utilized in a more efficient manner, like professional mentoring, we and our patients could only benefit greatly from the results.