Roles and responsibilities of a mentor

To be a mentor to a pre-registration nursing student you have a responsibility to ensure you meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Mentor Standard (NMC 2008). If you are unsure about this standard, read item 2.1.1. on page 21 of Standards to support learning and assessment in practice (pdf) to refresh your memory.

To mentor an OU student you:

• Must be employed, as a registered nurse, by an organisation in which the student nurse is gaining practice experience. You may work in the same practice area (e.g. ward, community team, department) as your student if this area is the student’s core practice -base.
• Should be up to date with equality and diversity training.
• Have expertise in the nursing care and management of the client group and the focus of practice within your practice area.
• Are responsible for facilitating learning, supervising and assessing students in the practice setting. This includes the following:
  – Ensuring that your student practises according to your organisation’s local policies and guidelines
  – Supporting your student to follow the NMC’s guidance on student conduct
  – Providing encouragement
  – Identifying and enabling access to practice learning opportunities
  – Reviewing existing skills and teaching new ones
  – Positively acknowledging new achievements
  – Advising and prioritising skills development
  – Liaising with other mentors and practice supervisors (pdf) to discuss your student’s progress in practice areas away from their core practice setting
  – Completing necessary documentation
  – Reviewing evidence that your student must present in their portfolio
  – As the accountable registrant, signing off the achievement of NMC generic and field specific competencies
  – As the accountable registrant, if carrying out summative assessment at the end of Stage 1 of the programme, confirming that the student has met the NMC requirements for Progression Point 1
  – As the accountable registrant, if carrying out summative assessment at the end of Stage 2 of the programme, confirming that the student has met the NMC requirements for Progression Point 2.

During the final practice learning period of Stage 3 of the programme, the student must be supported by a sign-off mentor, who will make a final judgement of competence and character. The evidence must show that the student is safe and effective in practice to be eligible to enter the NMC register on completion of the programme.

• In order to complete this final practice assessment you must meet the NMC standard (pdf) for ‘sign-off mentor’. For more information about this standard read item 2.1.3. on page 23 (NMC 2008).
• You must be registered in the same field of practice as that which the student intends to enter
• Your sign-off mentor status must be recorded on a local mentor register. Your employing organisation is responsible for ensuring that this local mentor register is maintained.
• You are responsible for providing feedback on your student’s performance and achievements to the Practice Tutor.
• You are also responsible for providing feedback to the Practice Tutor on any concerns about your student’s attendance, conduct or progression. For example:
  – Frequently arriving late to your area
  – Failing to follow your organisation’s policies and procedures
  – Neglecting to negotiate theory and practice hours appropriately, leaving you unclear about their whereabouts
  – Failing to report sickness and absence
  – Communicating with service users, carers or colleagues in an unprofessional manner
  – Demonstrating poor progress against learning outcomes or action plans, despite effective support and constructive feedback.

If your student’s conduct or behaviour gives you cause for concern, their achievement of the NMC competencies relating to Domain 1 Professional Values is likely to be compromised. You can reflect this in the decisions that you make regarding whether or not your student has achieved the skills relating to Care, Compassion and Communication set out in their portfolio and in feedback in their Ongoing Achievement Record.

[Insert podcast– interview with mentor: mental health
Insert podcast– interview with mentor: adult health]

Listen to the experiences of a mentor to Open University nursing students who is from the same field of practice as you and your student. LINKS FROM KATY]

Activity: Mentor co-ordination in your own organisation

This is an opportunity for you to clarify how mentors are developed and supported in your own organisation.

1. Do you know who co-ordinates the local mentor register for your organisation? If not, find out who holds and maintains this register and make a note of their name and contact details.
2. Check that your name and mentor details are on this mentor register and accurately entered.
3. Are you annotated on this register as a sign-off mentor? If not, and you will be completing your student’s final summative assessment of competence in practice, then you need to demonstrate that you meet the ‘sign-off mentor’ standard. Your organisation should have a specific process in place for supporting you to do this, so find out how this works. Use this process as you work towards becoming a sign-off mentor.
4. Have you discovered that your organisation does not appear to have a mentor register or any process for supporting sign-off mentors? If so, contact the Practice Tutor, who can then seek further advice and guidance on your behalf. 

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Next section: Roles and responsibilities of practice supervisors