The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC 2008a), defines “the role of a mentor as someone who facilitates learning, supervises and assesses learners in practice setting.” The mentor is a key support to students in practice, this is where students apply their knowledge, learn key skills and achieve the required competence for registration.
Mentors are accountable to the NMC for their decision that students are fit for practice and that they have necessary knowledge, skills and competence to take on the role of registered nurse or midwife (NMC, 2008a). According to Morton &Palmer (2000), mentors should display positive role modelling behaviours on duty. This gives the student the opportunity to observe the role modelling behaviours in action. When mentoring, nurses play a vital part in quality assurance by contributing to the educational audit of placement (Royal College of Nursing 2007).
The NMC (2008) standards support learning and assessment in practice; they outline the principles to be achieved in order to become a mentor. It is also essential for mentors to maintain professional knowledge and skills and to reflect on experiences that facilitate learning. This is in agreement with the standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives (NMC 2008). As a mentor I have the privilege and responsibility for helping students translate theory into practice. According to NMC (2008) while supporting and assessing learners the mentor should have the following qualities to establish an effective working relationship, facilitation of learning, assessment and accountability, evaluation of learning, creating an environment for learning, context of practice, evidence based practice and leadership.
During my mentorship programme to develop an effective mentor student relationship I arranged