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Practice placements and the quality of mentorship have a crucial impact on retention of final-year students, as Helen Pearson discovered
Abstract
Mentors, buddies, qualified nurses and other healthcare professionals shape the practice experiences of nursing students and change their perceptions on how care is delivered in the healthcare environment. Based on these experiences and perceptions, the student will decide whether to continue with a career in nursing. Once qualified, nurses cannot be expected to know everything. Clinical teams must be supportive of staff learning needs, acknowledging that relationships with mentors, supervisors and other staff will affect an individual's ability to fit in, to ask questions and to feel safe.
Keywords
Education: practical experiences; Nursing: education; Nursing students.
MANY STUDENTS experience a mix of feelings and emotions when they are approaching the end of nurse training - uncertainty, fear, excitement, feelings of responsibility and sometimes a lack of confidence in their abilities. In 2006, 1 qualified with an advanced diploma in paediatric nursing from the University of Southampton, but it was the challenges of the last phase of this journey to which many third-year student nurses may relate.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) (2002) emphasises the importance of planned learning opportunities and adequate support for students in the learning environment. Equauy, students have the responsibility to discuss their needs with their mentor (RCN 2005): the practice placement should be a two-way partnership between mentor and student.
The aim of writing this account of my transition from nursing student to staff nurse is to draw the attention of qualified staff, mentors and educators to factors that affect senior students' decisions to proceed with a career in children's nursing.
The three years of nurse education can best be described as a roller coaster ride. On my first placement I was shocked to discover shift work meant getting up at 6am and starting work at 7.30am - as a student I had never known those hours of the day existed. I wanted to quit - the long days combined with not seeing the light of day, missing out on social activities, night shifts, but worst of all a mentor I could not relate to. Two things kept me going: my strong belief in nursing and the...