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The Nurse as Mentor

Jan Odom, MS, RN, CPAN, FAAN
Mentor—“A person who gives another person help and When we talk about “new” nurses, it doesn’t
advice over a period of time and often also teaches them
how to do their job.”1
just have to mean young nurses fresh out of
nursing school. It could describe a person who
I WAS IN THE ATLANTA airport not long ago. has chosen nursing as a second career, and is
To transfer from one concourse to another, I older in age. It might also describe a nurse who
had to use the escalator to go down to the has become competent in one specialty and
underground train system. If you’ve never been chooses to move to a new specialty. A nurse in
there, the escalators are very steep and very all of these examples needs a mentor—some-
long. At the top of the escalator was a small one to give help and advice. This mentor not
child approximately 4 years old who was very only can help the new nurse with clinical skills,
frightened and crying, “I’m too scared, Mommy! but with socialization into the group.
I’m too scared!” As I looked down the escalator,
I saw his mother frantically trying to climb back The PACU at Forrest General Hospital in Hat-
up the escalator as it was taking her down and tiesburg, MS, uses a mentoring process for
farther away. I looked at the little boy, held out nurses who come to work in the unit. New
my hand, and said, “Here, take my hand and orientees are each assigned an experienced
let’s do this together.” He immediately took my nurse who has attended a preceptor workshop,
hand and together we went down the escalator. and they work the same schedule as their pre-
When we got to the bottom, as his mother was ceptor. The preceptor takes the new nurse
thanking me, he looked up at me with his big under his/her wing and begins with the basics.
eyes and said, “You saved my life!” Well, I don’t Each orientation process is tailored to the needs
know about that, but together we accom- of the orientee. For an experienced ICU nurse
plished something that he had trouble doing on who needs to learn the postanesthesia basics,
his own. the orientation may last 4 weeks. For an expe-
rienced medical surgical nurse who has to learn
telemetry and critical care, the process is much
Jane Rothrock, in a lecture about why we are
longer. On occasion, we have hired a newly
not “just a nurse,” stated that she participated in
graduated nurse and that orientation is a
a survey once in which 76.9% of over 1,200
6-month process.
nurses surveyed thought that nurses “ate our
young.”2 What a shame. There are many com-
plex reasons for the shortage of nurses today. The ideas and opinions expressed in this editorial are those
We know that less young people are choosing solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opin-
nursing as a career, that physician verbal abuse ions of ASPAN, the Journal, or the Publisher.
Jan Odom, MS, RN, CPAN, FAAN, is the Director for Surgical
can be a factor, and lack of independent prac- Services at Forrest General Hospital, Hattiesburg, MS.
tice and flexibility in the hospital is a cause. But Address correspondence to Jan Odom, MS, RN, CPAN,
we are also losing young nurses out of the FAAN, 105 Shadow Ridge Rd, Hattiesburg, MS 39402; e-mail
profession at a faster rate than ever before.2 address: [email protected].
© 2003 by American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses.
Could attitude toward our new nurses be a 1089-9472/03/1802-0013$35.00/0
reason? doi:10.1053/jpan.2003.50035

Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, Vol 18, No 2 (April), 2003: pp 143-144 143

144 JAN ODOM

One thing that we have discovered over time is nurse in Louisville, KY, a nursing supervisor
that the preceptor and orientee are bound to- saw potential, took me under her wing, and
gether for the long term. A great example of a gave me a position as Head Nurse of an Inten-
continuing relationship occurred at the first pre- sive Care Nursery. I learned many basic skills of
ceptor workshop offered. Two of the PACU management from her. Later, in Hattiesburg,
nurses, one who had precepted the other, were the Director of Surgical Services supported me
present. At that point, the newer nurse was as a clinical specialist, president of ASPAN, and
ready to have a relationship as a preceptor writer. A colleague who was president of an-
herself. My son had a preceptor in the Emer- other nursing organization at the same time I
gency Department when he graduated from was president of ASPAN has been my mentor
nursing school last May. His preceptor, Bo, told both professionally and personally. Other col-
me that Andrew was assigned to the chest pain leagues have mentored me as I learned to write.
area not long after he finished orientation and At the present time, my current boss, the Vice
was in a code situation. Bo kept trying to go and President of Patient Care Services, is a strong
see how Andrew was doing, but the charge mentor in my new position as Director of Sur-
nurse kept him away by telling him that An- gical Services. I would not be where I am with-
drew was doing fine and needed to do it on his out the mentors I have mentioned and others I
own. I think Bo was biting his fingernails until have not.
the situation was over—and it was because of
the bond he felt with Andrew as a new nurse. The derivation of “mentor” is from Homer—no,
Now the relationship can evolve into a collabo- not Simpson—Homer the writer! Mentor was
rative practice model. How exciting! the trusted friend of Odysseus who assigned
Mentor to “the care and education” of his be-
Those of us who have been nurses for a long loved son, Telemachus. Mentor taught Telema-
time also need mentors. I have had a progres- chus all he needed to know to succeed Ulysses
sion of mentors over the years, and all have as King of Ithaca. He learned patience, courage,
contributed vastly to my professional and per- modesty, and simplicity.3 Do we owe our
sonal life. When I was a 24-year-old fledgling nurses any less?
References
1. Cambridge International Dictionary of English. Available AORN Seminar, Jewish Hospital, Louisville, KY, February 22,
at http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key⫽mentor*1⫹0. 2003
Accessed February 27, 2003 3. Parada C: Mentor 4. Available at http://homepage.mac.
2. Rothrock J: Never say you are “just a nurse.” Kentucky com/cparada/GML/mentor4.html.Accessed March 10, 2003