Mentoring in the clinical training of midwifery students - a focus study of the experiences and opinions of midwifery students at the Medical University of Warsaw participating in a mentoring program

Feelings and thoughts of midwifery students during their first birth suite placement: A qualitative study

This descriptive qualitative study aimed to understand the feelings and thoughts experienced by 4th year midwifery students during the first birth they attended during clinical practice. Focus group interviews were conducted with 22 final year midwifery students in Istanbul, Türkiye December 2020. The transcribed data were analyzed by the descriptive qualitative analysis method. The students experienced not only negative feelings such as fear, torment, anxiety but also positive feelings such as hope, excitement, and curiosity during the first birth practice. The situations that caused negative feelings and thoughts were not only the feelings of the students but also the conditions that negatively affected the care provided to the patient in the clinic. The clinical practice environment affects the feelings and thoughts of midwifery students about the birth process. For this reason, improving the clinical practice environment and supporting students throughout the education process may contribute to the development of positive feelings and thoughts when attending as a student for their first birth suite placement.

Effect of mentorship and a mHealth application in updating provider skills and knowledge in maternal and newborn care in two informal settlements of Nairobi

BACKGROUND

Children and women in urban informal settlements have fewer choices to access quality maternal and newborn health care. Many facilities serving these communities are under-resourced and staffed by fewer providers with limited access to skills updates. We sought to increase provider capacity by equipping them with skills to provide general and emergency obstetric and newborn care in 24 facilities serving two informal settlements in Nairobi. We present evidence of the combined effect of mentorship using facility-based mentors who demonstrate skills, support skills drills training, and provide practical feedback to mentees and a self-guided online learning platform with easily accessible EmONC information on providers' smart phones.

METHODS

We used mixed methods research with before and after cross-sectional provider surveys conducted at baseline and end line. During end line, 18 in-depth interviews were conducted with mentors and mentees who were exposed, and providers not exposed to the intervention to explore effectiveness and experience of the intervention on quality maternal health services.

RESULTS

Results illustrated marked improvement from ability to identify antepartum hemorrhage (APH), postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), manage retained placenta, ability to identify and manage obstructed labour, Pre-Eclampsia and Eclampsia (PE/E), puerperal sepsis, and actions taken to manage conditions when they present. Overall, out of 95 elements examined there were statistically significant improvements of both individual scores and overall scores from 29/95 at baseline (30.5%) to 44.3/95 (46.6%) during end line representing a 16- percentage point increase (p > 0.001). These improvements were evident in public health facilities representing a 17.3% point increase (from 30.9% at baseline to 48.2% at end line, p > 0.001). Similarly, providers working in private facilities exhibited a 15.8% point increase in knowledge from 29.7% at baseline to 45.5% at end line (p = 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

This study adds to the literature on building capacity of providers delivering Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) services to women in informal settlements. The complex challenges of delivering MNH services in informal urban settings where communities have limited access require a comprehensive approach including ensuring access to supplies and basic equipment. Nevertheless, the combined effects of the self-guided online platform and mentorship reinforces EmONC knowledge and skills. This combined approach is more likely to improve provider competency, and skills as well as improving maternal and newborn health outcomes.

Mentorship needs in an intrapartum setting - mentor-centred approach: A qualitative descriptive study

AIM

The study aimed to explore and describe the needs of registered midwives in labour rooms in the North-West Province of South Africa with regard to clinical mentorship of student midwives to identify the strengths and gaps in the clinical mentorship programme and make recommendations to optimise clinical mentorship for student midwives in this setting.

BACKGROUND

The South African healthcare system is overburdened by numerous problems, particularly in maternity services. It has been reported that nurses are not skilled enough to provide quality care to pregnant women. The onus is on nursing education institutions to produce competent midwives to improve the quality of care. Mentorship has been proven to improve competence among mentees and this strategy can be used to address this health problem in South Africa.

DESIGN

The study employed a qualitative descriptive design and purposive sampling was used to select the participants from the level 2 hospitals in the North-West province in South Africa.

METHODS

Data were collected using individual telephonic interviews and 14 participants from three level 2 hospitals in the North-West province participated in the data collection process.

RESULTS

Three main themes emerged from interviews conducted with the participants. Their needs to successfully mentor student midwives in an intrapartum setting are a positive environment for learning, teaching and mentorship; a collaborative relationship between the nursing education institutions and the health facilities where they are employed as well as positive student conduct. The sub-themes under theme 1, a positive environment for teaching, learning and mentorship, are patience, teamwork, mutual respect and human and material resources. Theme 2, a collaborative relationship between the nursing education institutions and the health facilities, had three sub-themes, namely, presence, effective communication on students' objectives, activities and progress and opportunities for self-development and empowerment. Commitment to learning (presence, patience and pre-knowledge) is the sub-theme that emerged from the theme of positive student conduct.

CONCLUSIONS

For successful mentorship in the clinical setting, the focus should not just be on the mentees themselves and creating an environment where they can learn. There is a need to look into how the mentors, who provide learning opportunities and teach, guide and support mentees in order for them to be competent, can be assisted to enjoy mentorship.

The implementation and evaluation of a mentoring program for Bachelor of Midwifery students in the clinical practice environment

AIM

To describe the implementation and evaluation of a midwife/midwifery student-mentoring program in one Local Health District in Sydney NSW Australia.

BACKGROUND

Evidence suggests well designed and supported midwife/midwifery student mentorship programs can make a difference to the clinical placement experiences and attrition rates of midwifery students.

DESIGN

In the evaluation of the mentoring program, we used surveys, focus groups and individual interviews.

METHODS

Eighty-six participants, including midwife mentors, midwifery students, non-mentor midwives and midwifery managers participated in the evaluation. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data, content analysis.

RESULTS

The mentoring program increased midwives' mentoring skills and was beneficial to their professional growth and leadership skills. Students reported positive outcomes including someone to talk to, emotional support and a sense of belonging. Mentoring programs require structure, mentor training, organisational support and transparency.

CONCLUSION

The mentoring program provided benefits to both midwifery mentors and students and demonstrated the value of a structured and supported mentoring program for midwifery students.

Collaborative clinical facilitation in selected nursing and midwifery colleges in Northern Ghana

Background

Collaborative clinical facilitation converges key players to guide students individually and within groups towards achieving clinical nursing competence. However, experiences of collaborative clinical facilitation among nurse educators, clinical preceptors and nursing and midwifery students are often fragmented and have been largely unexplored in Ghana.

Aim

To describe the experiences of collaborative clinical facilitation among nurse educators, clinical preceptors and final year nursing and midwifery students in Northern Ghana.

Setting

The study was conducted at two nursing and midwifery colleges and an academic hospital in Northern Ghana.

Methods

A qualitative, descriptive, exploratory design was utilized. Forty-six participants comprising 16 nurse educators, 10 clinical preceptors, 10 nursing students and 10 midwifery students were purposively sampled. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were used to gather data and analysed thematically.

Results

Three themes revealed facilitative experiences of collaborative clinical facilitation: team-based clinical mentorship and supervision, personalised preceptorship, and clinical conferences. Two themes emerged inhibitory to collaborative clinical facilitation: staff shortages and lack of timely communication.

Conclusion

This study found that team mentorship, preceptorship and conferences fostered collaborative clinical partnerships for students' clinical learning. However, failure to engage in timeous communication in the midst of staff shortages hampered its smooth practice. Orientation workshops need to be organised for key players to share relevant updates and explore ways to navigate the challenges often experienced within the clinical training environment.

Contribution

This paper provides insight into the collaborative nature of clinical facilitation; and highlights the need for coordinated clinical placements to enhance students' clinical learning.

Clinical support and perceived competency levels of midwifery students: A descriptive analysis

Background

Midwifery students in South Africa place great value on the clinical support they receive from midwifery practitioners. Adequate clinical support should help midwifery students to practice procedures safely and independently, allowing them to be competent upon degree completion.

Aim

To describe the clinical support and perceived competency levels of midwifery students.

Setting

Public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal.

Methods

The researcher chose a quantitative research method using a descriptive design. An all-inclusive purposive and convenience sampling method was undertaken to recruit midwifery students from an undergraduate nursing programme at a university in KwaZulu-Natal. Gatekeepers permission and ethics approval was obtained from the university's registrar and research ethics committee. A self-evaluation questionnaire describing the clinical support and perceived competency levels was completed by 60 respondents. Data were analysed using International Business Machines Corporation Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS) Version 27.

Results

The results highlighted that the clinical support midwifery students received, was beneficial to their clinical learning outcomes. Eighty per cent of clinical support offered to midwifery students was obtained through clinical supervision. Ninety-three per cent of respondents revealed that the clinical support they received were from midwifery practitioners (without a speciality qualification). Although students rated themselves as competent in 88.6% of midwifery procedures, poor outcomes were identified in 11.4% procedures.

Conclusion

Midwifery practitioners play a significant role in supporting midwifery students during clinical placement. Advancing the roles of midwifery practitioners through mentorship training is likely to strengthen the quality of clinical support provided and thus improve the competence levels of midwifery students.

Contribution

The findings in this paper are valuable in developing clinical support training guidelines for midwifery practitioners.

Rearrangement of mentoring components for Student Achievement of medical universities

INTRODUCTION

Mentoring programs are the most important factor in the achievement of students' human capital. However, in Iran's higher health education system, these initiatives have received less attention. The goal of this research is to reorganize the components of mentoring for medical university student achievement.

METHODS

This qualitative study was conducted using a Meta synthesis method. Keywords of mentoring medical students, mentoring academics students, human capital development, student development, and mentoring were searched in database: Science Direct, Springer, Wiley Online Library, ERIC, Sage, Emerald, Pub Med from 2000 to 2021. Out of total 91 studies, finally 51 studies were selected.

RESULTS

The findings are divided into two parts. The first part deals with the characteristics of faculty members and students in the mentoring programs of medical universities. These features include student-specific characteristics, faculty-specific characteristics and common characteristics. In the second part of findings, the components of mentoring programs were extracted. These components include university, communication, soft capacities; before the implementation of the program, during program implementation, monitoring and evaluation of program implementation, and consequences of program implementation.

CONCLUSION

The suggested components should be examined by managers of the higher health education system for student human capital development due to the relevance of mentoring programs in the development of medical students' human capital.

Clinical study on flipped classroom and mind map in newly recruited nurses' pre-job training

Background

Traditional pre-job training mainly provides theoretical lectures and operational skill training for new nurses. However, it has a single teaching method, lacks in comprehensiveness and flexibility, and has unsatisfactory teaching effects. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the influence of the flipped classroom and mind map in the pre-job training of newly recruited nurses.

Method

A total of 92 nurses newly recruited in 2019 were included in the present study and randomly divided into two groups: the intervention group and the control group (n = 46, each). An ordinary training program was applied in the control group, and the flipped classroom + mind map training method was applied in the intervention group. All the new nurses were evaluated using the autonomous learning ability scale before and after pre-job training.

Results

The results of the present study showed that before the pre-job training, the total scores of independent learning ability, learning motivation, self-management ability, learning cooperation ability and information quality of nursing staff were similar in the control group and the intervention group; the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). After the application of different training methods, the total score of independent learning ability (84.95 ± 5.146 vs. 66.73 ± 11.213), learning motivation (28.65 ± 3.198 vs. 22.78 ± 5.995), self-management ability (24.97 ± 3.586 vs. 17.89 ± 4.153), learning and cooperation ability (14.391 ± 1.584 vs. 12.17 ± 2.584) and information quality score (16.93 ± 1.306 vs. 13.89 ± 2.651) in the intervention group were significantly higher than in the control group; the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The flipped classroom + mind map training method can effectively improve the autonomous learning ability of newly recruited nurses.

Midwife students and hospital mentors satisfaction with professional practice in Estonia

INTRODUCTION

Mentoring has played an important role in the development and support of healthcare students during the last 15 years. Constant monitoring performed by a mentor and their constructive feedback is a useful tool in professional practice. The greatest factor having a negative influence is lack of time. Mentors and midwifery students’ satisfaction with practical training can be significantly affected by the clinical practice environment. This study aims to analyze the satisfaction of the mentors at women's clinics and midwifery students with the clinical practice.

METHODS

The mixed methods study included midwifery mentors from the women's clinic and students who completed internships at the clinic in Estonia. The duration of the study was three years (2016–2019). Mentors were surveyed through focus group interviews. Students were surveyed through a semi-closed questionnaire. The study involved 15 midwives and 127 midwifery students.

RESULTS

The mentors are aware that their responsibilities include the instruction, training, and assessment of the trainees, and they believe that a safe environment has an important role in passing the training successfully. Additionally, the most challenging aspect of providing instruction from the view of the mentors is the resultant lack of time. Students are satisfied with the mentors, co-workers, wards, and overall practical training at the women’s clinic.

CONCLUSIONS

The most challenging aspect of providing instruction from the view of the mentors is the resultant lack of time. Students’ satisfaction with the said mentors is based on how well the students thought cooperation worked amongst mentors and co-workers. It is a problem for students from time to time that they are expected to have higher levels of skills than the knowledge they have acquired allows.

Evaluation of a Mentor training program for midwives in two hospitals in Warsaw, Poland - a qualitative descriptive study

BACKGROUND

Mentoring is a recognized, but still underutilized strategy for effective clinical training of midwifery students. The success of formally recognized course-embedded mentoring depends on adequate preparation of clinical teacher to act as mentors and effective developing of their mentoring skills. The aim of this study was to evaluate a Mentor Training Program for midwives, the first of its kind in Poland.

METHODS

Twenty-one midwives who completed a dedicated Mentor Training Program organized by the Medical University of Warsaw (12-14 June 2017) participated in this study. In Stage 1, 7 days prior to the training course, the participants completed an online questionnaire that identified their motivations and expectations. In Stage 2, they assessed the training program they had completed as well as described any perceived needs of further mentor training. Subsequently a qualitative study of the data was performed using content analysis.

RESULTS

In Stage 1, the participants expressed their interest in the Mentor Training Program mostly expecting to develop skills allowing them to implement mentoring in clinical training of student midwives. They were aware of the potential benefits of mentoring for hands-on instruction on the wards and wanted to gain knowledge of this strategy. In Stage 2, the overall satisfaction with the program was high, but the participants assessed their preparedness to act as midwifery mentors as inadequate. The results suggest that the Mentor Training Program should be further refined and expanded while the outcomes need to be evaluated in more detail by both new mentors and their trainers over a longer period of time, possibly after the participants have gained actual experience of mentoring in the clinical setting.

CONCLUSION

The participants described the Mentor Training Program as innovative, valuable and largely meeting their expectations. They gained knowledge of the concept of mentoring and its potential application in clinical training of midwifery students in Poland. Future mentor training programs should be expanded with a greater focus on developing, strengthening and applying mentoring skills in the clinical setting.