Mentoring program

[kasni]

I would like some suggestions on how to start up a mentoring program between my school, and our clinical sites. I think that mentors are a great means of facilitating a positive learning experience. Does anyone have any suggestions that may have been successfull in doing this?

[llg, PhD, RN]

The first step is to assess the situation. How burdened are your clinical sites with nursing students? How many different schools use those facilities? How many students do those hospitals have to deal with? Do the hospitals have the resources they would need to provide that service to your students? Is there anything your school could offer those hospitals in return for providing that service to your students? etc. etc. etc.

I would meet with your contact person at each site and get this type of information -- as well as their thoughts on such a program. That would enable you to identify any barriers that you would need to overcome. It would also enable the clinical sites to play an active role in the early stages of the planning process, helping them to buy into it.

llg