Begin reviewing and replying to peer postings/responses early in the week to enhance peer discussion. See the rubric for participation points. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing viewpoints with a rationale, challenging aspects of the discussion, or indicating relationships between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Always use constructive language, even in criticism, to work toward the goal of positive progress.

Mentoring 

a. Provide examples of previous mentors who have enhanced your learning experiences. 

b. Describe methods utilized by your mentors to improve educational experiences. 

c. Discuss the impact on your nursing practice.

Reply to my Peers

Peer 1 

I have had a lot of great mentors in my nursing career. From school professors to clinical mentors and even mentors when starting a new job at the hospital. One of my favorite mentors is from nursing school and she taught me so much. Her way of teaching best fit my learning style. Two days a week we would have class where we went over different materials and took quizzes, and the other three days were clinical days. During our clinical days she would challenge us for the week to find and learn at the hospital what we were learning that week in class. For me this helped with the hands-on learning. It is one thing to read it in a book but to be hands-on really helps me understand better. We would then gather as a group at the end of the day to talk about our experience. Having a group discussion helped us all understand how stuff could be done differently. I found this to be very helpful to me. The second mentor that taught me a lot is from my very first nursing job. She was good with stepping back when needing to be. She helped me learn my critical thinking skills. Working at night at my hospital we do not have a doctor in house, if we need orders, we call our providers.  If there happens to be an emergency on the floor our ER doctor will come up. I feel it is very critical to have good critical thinking skills when working at night due to our lack of resources. I also feel this was more of a hands-on learning experience. Instead of how some mentors teach, they like for the person to shadow and discuss stuff instead of being hands-on right away.  I have also picked this up when training new nurses. It also can depend on the nurse and their learning styles. Some nurse may not feel comfortable to be hands-on right away and that is ok too. I know throughout my nursing career I will continue to have many great mentors. 

Resources

Bastable, S. B. (2019). Nurse as educator: principles of teaching and learning for nursing practice (5th ed.). Retrieved from https://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/#/books/9781284155464/cfi/6/2!/4/2/2@0:0

Peer 2

Mentoring

My mentor was my elementary school nurse who was also a family friend. She stressed the importance of how you must have the right attitude- a positive attitude. Respect is very important as well as listening. She was there for guidance and support and she led by example. On very stressful days at work when it would be easy to blow up, I think about my mentor and have to de-stress. 

Methods from my mentor to improve educational experiences are always to smile, make eye contact with patients and call them by name. She encouraged you to learn as much as you can and don’t stop at an Associate degree. 

Technology use is not meant to replace the person to person interaction that is essential in any nurse- patient encounter (pg 527). We as nurses can ensure the patient understands he/ she is at the center of our care by active listening, looking at the patient when talking and not continually at the computer. Patient centered care so that patients can provide their subjective experience as an input.(pg528) Presence is the act of being there and being with our patients fully focusing on their needs. Technology is great and does help us collect meaningful data and generate knowledge about patient situations, it is equally important to collect the human-to-human data that becomes available only when we step away from the technology and interact authentically with our patients. (pg534)

She always stated: “When you help others you help yourself, because what you give is what you get”

Dee McGonigle and Kathleen Mastrian (2017) Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge (4th edition)OnlineSouthUniversityLibrary. Jones & Bartlett Learning, ISBN 9781284121247