A university/healthcare institution mentorship programme: Improving transition to practice for students

The impact of mentorship program on the level of anxiety and pre-internship exam scores among Iranian senior nursing students

BACKGROUND

Mentorship involves a voluntary, collaborative, and non-hierarchical relationship where an experienced individual shares knowledge with a less-experienced individual. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a mentorship program on anxiety levels and pre-internship exam scores among senior nursing students.

METHODS

This quasi-experimental research was conducted on 37 nursing students in the sixth semester of the School of Medical Sciences in Saveh in the year 2023. Participants were selected based on initial criteria using a census method and were then randomly assigned to two groups: the control group (19 participants) and the intervention group (17 participants). The mentoring program for the intervention group was implemented one month before the pre-internship exam and consisted of six sessions, each lasting two hours, over two weeks (three sessions per week). Data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire, the Sarason Anxiety Questionnaire, and pre-internship exam scores. SPSS software version 23 was utilized for data analysis.

RESULTS

The mean anxiety exam scores in the two control and intervention groups did not exhibit a statistically significant difference before the intervention (P = 0.34). However, the mean anxiety exam score of the intervention group students after the intervention (5.89 ± 15.11) was significantly lower than that of the control group students (7.04 ± 21.42) (P = 0.007). Additionally, the results showed that the mean anxiety exam scores of the intervention group students before (5.77 ± 17.53) and after the intervention (5.89 ± 15.11) had a statistically significant difference (P = 0.013). Furthermore, the mean pre-internship exam scores of the intervention group students (1.71 ± 17.72) were significantly higher than those of the control group students (1.15 ± 16.46) (P = 0.014).

CONCLUSION

The mentorship program resulted in a reduction of exam anxiety in nursing students and improved their performance in the pre-internship exam to the extent that the exam scores of the participating students were higher than those of other students.

Application of Kano model for optimizing the training system among nursing internship students: a mixed-method Egyptian study

BACKGROUND

Clinical experience is an important component of nursing education because it translates students' knowledge into practice, which serves as the cornerstone of nursing practice in health care delivery.

PURPOSE

The study aims to explore the quality attributes required for optimizing the training system of nursing internship students using Kano model.

METHODS

A concurrent exploratory sequential triangulation design was used for mixed-methods research. A total of 295 nursing internship students (Target Population) were recruited (whole-population sampling) from the study settings in Egypt. Of them, 280 (97.2%) agreed to participate in the study and completed the interview and the self-administered questionnaire. Data collection was done over 6 months from February to August, 2022. Inferential statistics and thematic data analysis were used to analyze the results.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that there were 35 fundamental attributes required for high-quality nursing students' internship training. Kano model was used to categorize and prioritize the 35 quality attributes. Kano analysis revealed that 22 attributes were categorized as "attractive" and 11 attributes were as categorized as "must be" and two were indifferent attributes.

CONCLUSION

Incorporating the voice of nurse interns during their training is the key to providing efficient and high-quality internship training experience. It could give realistic impressions about the drawbacks of training and proposed solutions.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

Nurse managers and educators in clinical settings and educational institutions should put much emphasis on the training attributes and pillars to ensure that nursing internship students are mastering the skills of competent alumni. Provision of conducive training environment that fulfill the basic needs of internship students to maintain passion for learning as well as commitment of internship students to nursing profession will improve the satisfaction level and quality of education, training, and practice. Also, incorporating internship students support system with motivation strategies are helpful tools to maintain exemplary performance of internship students during the training period.

Pediatric nursing students' self-efficacy regarding medication administration and clinical comfort and worry: A pre-posttest comparative study of nurse mentoring versus peer mentoring

AIM

This study aimed to examine the effect of mentoring practice by graduate nursing students and clinical nurses on students' self-efficacy in pediatric medication administration, clinical comfort and worry levels of students taking pediatric nursing courses.

BACKGROUND

Children are a highly sensitive group against medication administration errors. Improving the self-efficacy of student nurses who will work with this group toward medication administration is essential. Mentoring programs can increase students' skills and self-efficacy by reducing their stress levels during clinical practice.

DESIGN

The research is a two-group pretest-posttest randomized controlled experimental research design.

SETTINGS

The study was conducted in the pediatric units of a training and research hospital located in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey between October 1, 2022 and December 30, 2022, as part of the clinical practice of the Pediatric Nursing course in the fall semester of 2022-2023.

PARTICIPANTS

The study sample consisted of 143 students (peer mentoring group=73, nurse mentoring group=70) who were 3rd-year students taking the pediatric nursing course.

METHODS

Participant information form, Medication Administration Self-Efficacy Scale in Children for Nursing Students (MASSCNS) and Pediatric Nursing Students Clinical Comfort and Worry Tool (PNSCCWT) were administered to the students before the clinical practice. Then, the groups received mentoring practice in the clinical practice area for 14 weeks. At the end of the practice, MASSCNS and PNSCCWT were administered to the students again.

RESULTS

The groups were homogeneously distributed when compared according to descriptive characteristics (p > 0.05). The self-efficacy scores of the students in both groups after clinical practice were significantly different from those before clinical practice (tnurse=-4.724, pnurse=0.000 <0.05; tpeer=-3.742, ppeer=0.001 <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study's results indicate that nurse mentoring and peer mentoring effectively increase nursing students' self-efficacy during pediatric clinical practice. While nurse mentors decreased students' worry, peer mentors increased students' clinical comfort levels.

Final-Year Nursing Students' Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

The transitional experience from final-year nursing students (FYNS) to newly graduated RNs (NGRN) challenges individuals' professional and personal identities. Multiple studies have documented the experiences of FYNS graduating in the pandemic, but no studies have synthesized the findings.

METHOD

This scoping review examined the barriers and facilitators FYNS experience as they transitioned to become NGRN during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Databases were searched for relevant articles, and articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2019 and 2021 that focused on the support of FYNS in clinical settings in North America, Europe, and Australia were included.

RESULTS

Three themes were identified: emotional turmoil and coping, clinical competence and readiness for practice, and teaching strategies.

CONCLUSION

This review revealed important insight on how the pandemic affected FYNS' transition to practice and identified gaps in the literature for future research. [J Nurs Educ. 2023;62(1):6-11.].

Challenges to implement evidence-based midwifery care in Bangladesh. An interview study with medical doctors mentoring health care providers

BACKGROUND

In 2013 the first midwives in Bangladesh to be educated according to international standards completed their course and were awarded a diploma. Sixty percent of their training took place in clinical placement sites. In order to achieve appropriate mentor support while in clinical practice, a mentorship programme was initiated whereby local doctors were appointed by Save the Children. The aim of this study is to describe the mentors' purpose and the actions they took to improve midwifery care at clinical placement sites. Their appointment was intended to support local Health Care Providers (HCPs) at clinical placement sites meant for educating midwifery students in evidence-based midwifery care.

METHODS

An open-ended interview study with 14 mentors. The data was analysed using content analysis.

RESULTS

The main category, the theme that emerged from the analysis was "Creating commitment". "Creating commitment" describe how the mentors; the medical doctors employed by Save the Children, "Motivate", "Educate", "Mentor", "Advocate" and "Communicate" (subcategories) to creating commitment for quality midwifery care "In the organization of care" and "In clinical care practices" (categories). As intended, they enabled HCPs, midwifery students, and newly graduated midwives to provide quality midwifery care.

CONCLUSIONS

Using medical doctors' status and power to support the development of a newly emerging midwifery cadre in a country where midwifery is just emerging as a profession is because midwives integrated in the health system will improve the birthing process, improve life chances for newborns, and reduce morbidity and mortality in Bangladesh. It is recommended for implementation in other similar national contexts.

The best of both worlds - entering the nursing profession with support of a transition programme

BACKGROUND

Transition into clinical practice for newly graduated nurses is a difficult time, with high stress levels defined by a demanding period of personal and professional acclimatisation. Transitions are complicated and multi-dimensional, and to understand this process, it is crucial to identify the factors that facilitate or stand in the way of a healthy transition.

AIM

The phenomenological study aimed to describe newly graduated nurses' expectations of transitioning into the nursing profession at the start of a clinical nursing introduction programme, including education, supervision, and critical reflection with peers.

METHOD

The study was based on seven group interviews with newly graduated nurses. The interviews utilised open-ended and follow-up questions and were carried out as a dialogue to enable reflection on the phenomenon of interest. This was explored and illuminated using the reflective lifeworld research approach, based on phenomenological epistemology.

FINDINGS

"Expectations of transition into the nursing profession via the Clinical Nursing Introduction Programme" is signified by an oscillating movement between uncertainty, security, challenge, and growth on the threshold of a new identity. The phenomenon is constituted by the courage to grow, responsibility and fear, belonging and vulnerability, and support and challenge.

CONCLUSION

Transitioning into the nursing profession via the Clinical Nursing Introduction Programme means having the best of both worlds. Newly graduated nurses have the opportunity to receive education and structured support at the same time as they work independently in clinical practice.

Promoting and Supporting a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program of Scholarship

BACKGROUND

Mentoring in the context of the faculty-student relationship can be one in which each benefits. Creative approaches are warranted to help discriminate the boundaries between the student and the teacher as a mentor, which are often ill-defined and blurred given the high-stakes summative assessments of performance.

METHOD

Six specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based (SMART) goals were established for a mentor and mentee relationship spanning a 2-year period based on a vision for building a program of scholarship. Weekly mentoring sessions were used to monitor progress toward goal attainment.

RESULTS

While completing the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, the mentee expanded professional networks, obtained funded fellowships, expanded knowledge and skills related to the substantive area of scholarship, and disseminated that work through professional presentations and publications coauthored with the mentor.

CONCLUSION

Cognizant of the boundaries between course-related products and professional presentations and publications, the goal-driven mentor-mentee relationship is transformational to both. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(9):526-530.].