There’s a quiz going around on Facebook about who a new peri-op nurse would want in their life. A person who has clinical competence and experience and mimic them. Kind of a fake it until you make it.
The answers are preceptor, mentor, role model, or educator.
Let’s break those down.
A preceptor is the person who trains you in the policies and procedures of the hospital. They are the one whom the new peri-op nurse follows to gain knowledge about their new role in that particular hospital.
There has been a movement away from having unit educators anymore. I know in the hospital system I work for, the unit educator’s role has been centralized to a central office. This means that less of them can do the work that is necessary for annual education. However, this also means that the unit loses that person who is the dedicated educator for the unit. Our last educator left after having a baby and they centralized the education department. She was never replaced and the education got punted to the assistant nurse manager, and those of us in the unit who stepped up to serve in the educator role. Even if a unit had a dedicated educator they serve the entire unit and personalization of education goes to the wayside.
A role model is someone to look up to in the department. They could be good at their job and admired by staff and surgeons alike. They have clinical competence and experience. But this is a shallow relationship. A role model is sometimes imitated, but sometimes it is for a reason that is not in the patient’s or the department’s best interest. Especially if they are admired by cutting corners. Cutting corners is dangerous.
A mentor relationship is all of the other three and a deeper relationship. They are the one that the peri-op nurse goes to with questions, or reassurance. They are the ones that notice when someone is having a bad day, and invites them for a cup of coffee to talk about it. Mentors are important.
Luckily, I have a built in mentor in my mom, a still working nurse with 50 years of nursing experience who does all the things a good mentor does. She listens when I have concerns, she talks through solutions with me, and she will give me a mild correction when I need it.
This is what I think is the answer to the question. A mentor is all the things in one.
All new nurses need to find themselves a mentor. All nurses need to find themselves a mentor too.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 