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Strategies for mentorship and assessment of nursing students A reflective essay
Strategies for mentorship and assessment of nursing students: A reflective essay
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IntroductionNursing mentorship is an important aspect of the process of acquiring the prerequisite skill set in this sensitive trade. The mentorship programs offered in many parts of the world are supposed to be an emulation of Florence Nightingale’s instructive sessions in the Crimean War (Shaw, 2012). During these periods, she would physically guide the other nurses on the job by offering advice, instruction, and information. These practices have continued to be an important pillar for the nursing profession due to the empowerment of nurses and optimization of the skills they obtain in class and practice.Such was my case some time back when I was required to mentor a third-year nursing student during her practice run in the local hospital. One of the requirements of this mentorship exercise was for her to gain a deeper understanding of some of the core competencies her level of instruction has acquired her. In addition, I was also supposed to ensure that the student gained more confidence in her practice since the acquisition of skills without a proper level of confidence was one of the nursing field’s most disturbing problems (Canham and Bennett, 2002). More so since human lives might depend on it.The student, named Paula, arrives quite early on the day we expected her. Her first day started well since timeliness is an important virtue for the nursing trade as well as critically important for the practice. I introduced her rest of the nursing fraternity attached to the mature female ward -my working zone. I felt that the acquaintances would assist her develop the required confidence she needed to communicate well in the ward since communication was necessary for any teamwork, which is what nursing is about essentially (Scott and Spouse, 2013). After acquainting her with the mature female ward nurses, Paula came to my office for the rest of her initial orientation into the four weeks mentorship program. The mentorship would culminate in my making entries into the ongoing achievement record as well as student reports.As part of the mature female ward, Paula would need to carry out many duties in the course of her mentorship program. The adult female ward has many female patients with a wide variety of female-specific diseases and medical problems (Levin and Feldman, 2012). The learner would experience a full range of medical scenarios in which to operate and gain the necessary skills to become a competent nurse in the future. In order to facilitate the learner in the best manner possible, I decided to identify the best strategies for mentorship and assessment. In execution, they would benefit Paula and me since mentorship offers the mentor with a learning experience as well.Strategies for mentorshipThe first strategy I identified for Paula’s benefit was the bottom-up approach. We needed to start her mentorship process from the areas of knowledge to new ones (Baxley, Ibitayo and Bond, n.d.). Therefore, I set about establishing what the learner had assimilated into the classroom environment and her application of the same during practice sessions. In addition I identified we would identify her areas of weakness in the curriculum in order to strengthen them later on using the appropriate methodology. Therefore, Paula seemed to have acquired a thorough knowledge of all aspects of maternal care nursing but has a weak grasp of midwifery techniques. Therefore, we decided to apply more effort in her weak areas while maintaining her grasp of the strengths to improve her overall situation in terms of nursing skills and competence after mentorship and school.The second strategy I decided would be best for her was the 5-step of instruction. This method utilizes five tried and tested methods that seek to instill clinical and medical skills in the nursing fraternity. The first step involves sensitizing the learner on the need to acquire the required skills while motivating them. Paula would respond well to this part since she had exuded confidence in her ability to capture concepts and developed a liking for the nursing knowledge (Gantz, 2010). The second step involved requesting the learner to demonstrate the skills without discussion in order to identify the skill level and areas, which needed work. Paula was an excellent student in school having captured almost all her classroom concepts well; however, her midwifery was wanting. The third step involved me – the mentor – demonstrating the skills once more but using discussion to identify the learner’s weakness and install more in the learner. Paula seemed genuinely interested in capturing the skills that needed more work. The fourth step required Paula as the student to talk me through the steps, and the last one qualified her to carry out the skills.While mentoring is an important part of a learner’s skills improvement process, the best practice and development emanates from the student practicing their newly acquired skills in individual cases in order to create confidence and boost their adaptive ability in applying these skills to the different scenarios that come their way (Prevost, 2005). Paula would, therefore, need more practice in real life situations in order to ensure that she has acquired enough confidence to apply the skills unaided and also assist her develop adaptive capacity. I asked her to accompany me to three particular cases in order to observe her keenness and cultivate confidence in her newly acquired skills. In addition, I asked her to assist me once in a complicated delivery in order to see how she would adapt to working in an environment rife with complications that required ingenuity and adaptive skills. She was jittery at first in assisting the breech birth, but after some few words of encouragement rose to the occasion with excellent results for both mother and child.As part of my mentorship process, I was required to identify one area of interest in which I intended to major once I had graduated and sat for the nursing examination body exams. The National Healthcare Council and Midwifery and Nursing Council tests were severe and required one to be adequately qualified in a recognized University for the Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. Paula was in the third year of her college education and intended on being registered as a level one registered nurse after graduating and sitting for the prerequisite examinations. However, she has not yet chosen her area of specialization. While discussing the subject one Monday evening, she hinted at maternity nursing being her first love but decided on critical care nursing later on after careful deliberation. However, she wanted to do it, the fact was that there was a lot of hard work ahead of her, and as her mentor in the short capacity then, it was my duty to surround her with as much of the situational awareness and learning environment as possible (Santucci, 2004).Later on, as we developed a strong bond after three weeks of intense learning and brainstorming activity, I decided to kick-start the next strategy I had in store for Paula. Her nursing mentorship was almost ending and she had surprised most of the mature female ward nurses with her capacity to absorb medical and nursing concepts as well as come up with the best solutions for even the most tasking situations (Maier and Shibles, 2011). I had planned to put her on intense brainstorming sessions using some complicated scenarios in the last week of her stay at the hospital culminating in my assessment of her progress. Not surprisingly, she did very well on all the questions we threw at her, even amazing the doctors with her collective ability to both identify diagnostic errors and remedy them accordingly. However, the real deal would be the exams ahead and her performance without the assistance of mentors like I and we made that well known to her.
Assessment strategies used in nursing mentorshipMentorship, at least in the medical and nursing trade, culminated in the mentor carefully assessing the learner’s abilities and acquired skills using a wide variety of methods available. Due to the practical nature of the nursing profession, the most efficient mode of assessment would be on case evaluation but that was impossible due to statutory regulations regarding non-qualified nurses and hospital insurance policies (McGee, 2009). However, there were no statutory regulations or policies against the mentorship personnel using near-authentic examples of cases on their learners without endangering the lives of real patients (Mentoring Nurses in Evidence-Based Projects, 2012). Therefore, I asked a couple of nurses to assist me make up five real-life scenarios of various degrees of seriousness and complexity. With these scenarios, Paula’s entire skill set would be put to the test using the nursing council’s propriety performance scales (Staunton and Chiarella, 2012). In addition, we made it well known to her that her performance in these exercises was going to influence her ongoing assessment record remarks and graduation.In addition to the particular test, we had prepared for Paula as part of the female ward, the other evaluation strategy we utilized on her was applying past examination material to her. As a university student, she was used to sitting for hours on end at a time reading troves of medical and nursing information. We did not want her to undergo such a harrowing experience on her mentorship. Therefore, I chose only some relevant material from the UK midwifery examinations body and applied them to her in order to assess her assimilation of the same material. Due to the complex nature of the review questions and scenarios, I ascertained that the strategy would provide not only an indication of her skills, knowledge, and applicative ability, but also her an aptitude with regards to the nursing profession. The last bit was important as part of my assessment in order to identify an accurate estimation of the career prospects of this young nurse in the making. So far, she had amazed most of the female ward’s nurses, and some felt that she had the aptitude for a far more challenging and complicated nursing field in medical fields such as neurology. One duty of the mentor is to ensure the learner not only succeeds in their current endeavor, but also achieves the highest goals they possibly can (Rassool, 2010). Therefore, I had to identify the young student’s aptitude in order to complete my assessment.Mentoring is not only about developing the skills the learner wants to acquire through training and practice. It also involved developing other skills that are relevant to the person’s career and job prosperity. The nursing practice is a very taxing medical field that a young professional could choose. The chances of encountering hard scenarios where one is expected to not only demonstrate a keen skill set honed by practice, but also other attributes such as sensitivity, counseling ability, and social skills (Smith, 2012). I devised a strategy where Paula would also develop her counseling skills using examples from real cases I was handling and requesting her to develop solutions after research. Therefore, she would identify the need to develop counseling skills as her career progressed. In addition, the need for psychological skills necessary in identifying some of the pre-existing mental aspects affecting the patient’s physical well-being was also emphasized (Thompson et al., 2013). The increasingly tense socio-economic times were influencing the mental health of patients to the extent of manifesting themselves in the physical states. Nurses frequently needed to possess a mental set of skills in order to identify psychological factors in some of the medical cases they handled and developed nursing-oriented approaches to solving them. Paula assimilated some notes I handed to her and demonstrated a good grasp of the use of these skills in detecting examples of mental factors such as tension and stress as causative agents of some medical conditions. The learner’s acquisition of these skills signaled the end of the process of imparting skills and knowledge through strategic mentorship and the start of the assessment process on paper.In conclusion, as I was completing my assessment of Paula on her OAR, I also realized the interaction with this promising nurse was beneficial to me as well. The learner had excelled in all her instruction and practice aspects. In addition, I had succeeded in assisting her to strengthen the objective of increasing her midwifery skill set. Although she would not be able to practice in a professional capacity for another two years, Paula looked forward to completing her academic instruction, and then pursues her professional education before starting her long, illustrious career as a nurse. Although she still held to the ambition of becoming a critical care nurse later in her professional career, I believed she would come round to the realization that she had more in her than just the CCN role. Until then, I would carry out my duty and recommend her for the highest scores in the ongoing assessment record with exemplary performance in nursing concepts, social skills, and academic potential. In addition, I also felt that her mentorship benefited me a lot since I got the chance to pull someone else up the social and professional ladder while growing in the process too.
References
Baxley, S., Ibitayo, K. and Bond, M. (n.d.). Mentoring today’s nurses.
Canham, J. and Bennett, J. (2002). Mentorship in community nursing. Malden, MA: Blackwell Science.
Gantz, N. (2010). 101 global leadership lessons for nurses. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International.
Levin, R. and Feldman, H. (2012). Teaching Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
Maier, B. and Shibles, W. (2011). The philosophy and practice of medicine and bioethics. Dordrecht: Springer.
McGee, P. (2009). Advanced Practice in Nursing and the Allied Health Professions. Wiley.
Mentoring Nurses in Evidence-Based Projects. (2012). Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, 28(2), pp.89-90.
Prevost, S. (2005). Strategies from industry leaders in critical care. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.
Rassool, G. (2010). Addiction for nurses. Chichester, West Sussex: Blackwell Pub.
Santucci, J. (2004). Facilitating the Transition Into Nursing Practice. Journal for Nurses in Staff Development (JNSD), 20(6), pp.274-284.
Scott, I. and Spouse, J. (2013). Practice-based learning in nursing, health and social care. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Blackwell.
Shaw, M. (2012). Mentorship in healthcare. [Place of publication not identified]: M & K Update Ltd.
Smith, A. (2012). Assessing Confidence in Triage Decision Making. Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, 28(3), pp.132-136.
Staunton, P. and Chiarella, M. (2012). Law for Nurses and Midwives. London: Elsevier Health Sciences APAC.
Thompson, J., Mallet-Boucher, M., McCloskey, C., Tamlyn, K. and Wilson, K. (2013). Educating Nurses for the Twenty-First Century Abilities-Based Outcomes and Assessing Student Learning in the Context of Democratic Professionalism. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 10(1).
Statement of Purpose – Doctor of Liberal Arts degree at Georgetown University (SOP).
Statement of Purpose – Doctor of Liberal Arts degree at Georgetown University (SOP).
Author’s name
Institutional Affiliation
Statement of Purpose – Doctor of Liberal Arts degree at Georgetown University (SOP).
I hereby apply for admission to pursue a Doctor of Liberal Arts degree in the department of Government in international relations at Georgetown University. I believe that the Doctor of Liberal Arts degree at Georgetown University is designed for individuals like me who have the motivation and potential to excel in their careers. It is in my opinion that this program is designed for individuals who hold the background as well as analytical skills requisite for managerial and administrative decision-making in the public and private sectors. It is in my opinion that the Doctor of Liberal Arts degree at Georgetown University provides the opportunity I require to develop my competencies in administration and management. I am aware that the objective of Georgetown education is to create exceptional creative thinkers, and problem-solvers.
In this paper I have provided an overview of my scholarly as well as professional. I have also provided an overview of my career objectives as well as the inspiration to pursue the Doctor of Liberal Arts degree at Georgetown University. I am presently a working as a Supervisor for the Immigration Analyst unit at the Arlington Asylum Office. I have an Associate and a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. I also hold a Masters degree in Public Administration from Strayer University, Washington, DC. In the course of my previous studies, I have developed a keen interest in pursuing international relations to the PHD level. It is in light of this that I find international relations in the department’s graduate program the most appropriate channel to prepare for a successful career, since it introduces scholars to cutting-edge research across the field and trains them to become productive global citizens.
In the course of my career in the public sector, I have had the opportunity to serve in many different details in offices around the United States, as well as abroad. As a Supervisory Immigration Analyst I supervise a group of Immigration Analysts responsible for directing, implementing, coordinating, and overseeing a major department-wide mission or administrative program requiring application of a wide range of qualitative systems and support principles, processes and systems. I research and conduct studies which involve the search and examination of CIS records and databases to obtain pertinent information on cases, policies, procedures, trends, evaluation, and other similar matters to make determinations on case specific problems. I respond to case specific and general filing inquiries from internal and external customers, including various USCIS offices, and other government agencies. I research, prepare and provide verbal or written technical guidance, information and support to various USCIS office management staff in the application of management systems and/or programs. I conduct data queries, and validate and analyze data and create reports for management on program elements.
As an Immigration Analyst (Asylum), between 1/04/2009 to 11/20/2010, my core duties and responsibilities were to search applicants’ background checks. The most important tool within the USCIS data systems, is RAPS and CIS, also CLAIMS, TECS IBIS, other lookout databases, commercial databases, and various open sources to determine if information relates to a subject and the extend of derogatory information. I would verify information through system checks, electronic inquiries and in contact with the Asylum Officers, Asylum Supervisors and other Immigration Offices. I ensured that applicants complied with all relevant background check and fingerprints (biometric) check procedures. I would also serve as an assistant to the Director, Deputy Director, and Supervisors in gathering data, preparing documentation, creating reports, organizing records, and assembling files. I entered the selected information into various databases and automated tracking system; performing a variety of assignments, such as assembling and summarizing incoming background check information, and other materials. I determined whether the background check results present a possible bar to the Grant of Asylum or require notification of law enforcement personnel. I also determined through consultations with the Deputy Director or other Authority Personnel whether a case must be forwarded for adjudication or taken off the production schedule for further examination of the background check results. I determined if the Asylum Office has jurisdiction over an Asylum case, a Nacara case; a credible and reasonable fear case by analyzing facts, examining any available documents and researching and analyzing appropriate information. I would personally issue cases decision and deportation or exclusion charging documents. I prepared charging documents and review them and their attachments against the information in the file to ensure completeness and accuracy of charges as well as compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and procedures. I reviewed the applicant decision and made sure that the applicant understood the content of each document in the decision packet. I conducted face-to-face prescreening interviews with applicant and elicit sufficient information from the applicant through questioning and reviewing a variety of documents to determine the prima facie eligibility of benefits under special program settlements and regulations and prepared reports on suspected fraudulent intent by applicants.
As a Immigration Officer/Contact Office Representative between 2/28/1999 to 1/4/2009, I had the opportunity to serve in many different details in offices around the United States (Atlanta District Office and Los Angeles District Office among others,) as a Representative of the Arlington Asylum Office, (Arlington, VA,), as part of my job, I would assist the Asylum Officers with the administrative duties that comes with the preparation of the interviews. I would deliver grants to applicants and provide advice and guidance to applicants concerning the full-range of grant and agreement determinations and cooperative agreements with Federal, state and local agencies, memoranda of understanding, and relevant laws and immigration regulations. I created award and court packages and ensured all the necessary documentation was included. Prior to delivering or giving an applicant his/hers Grant, I would review grant benefits for clarity and completeness and provide advice and assistance in the development of criteria and standards for the planning, implementation and evaluation of grant applications. I reviewed and processed award amendments, including, but not limited to: removal of special conditions/holds; changes in authorized representatives/points of contact, and sole source justifications, and changes in scope. Between Jan 3, 2005 and March 5, 2005, I served in Kenya (Africa), as an Immigration/Administrator officer for the Immigration and Citizenship Office at the US embassy in Nairobi. In this assignment I was able to process over 1,000 cases in two months, optimally using my many different skills while making sure that all DHS/CIS Regulations were followed. My duties included many aspects of the immigration process, at various levels of responsibility. These included processing many of the Refugees applications and adjudicating applications (and associated benefits) for refugee settlement in the United States. I executed facts review and analysis upon examining applicants’ documents for authenticity. I also carried out research on the laws and country conditions, with the help of the OIC (Officer in charge.) I also reviewed case files and decisions to ensure that quality standards were met. I collected and evaluated intelligence information, and brought refugee fraud leads to the OIC’s attention. I carried out screening of affidavits to determine eligibility of family reunification refugee cases. I reviewed biometric data clearance for refugee entry into the United States. I checked for Holds to be lifted, and lifted them if all corrections were made. I would check the applicants and dependents’ pictures for fraud, and poison pen letters, verify their class clearances and RAVU letters. Between 1999 and Jan 3, 2005, I served as a Contact Representative, in the Department of Justice, Arlington Asylum Office, Arlington, VA. While between 5/1990 to 1999, I served as an US Army Legislative Liaison, attached to the Pentagon, Arlington, VA.
It would be a privilege to me to secure admittance to pursue a Doctor of Liberal Arts degree in the department of Government in international relations at Georgetown University. I am resolved to match the excellence standards laid down by Georgetown University.
Standards for lifting
Standards for lifting
Student’s Name
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Explain the complexities and difficulties in enforcing standards for lifting. Use specific examples to support your answer.
Weight lifting standards refer to the set criterion regarding design, test, inspection and operation of lifting devices and equipment. It also gives guidelines on lifting procedures and certification of personnel allowed to operate lifting devices and equipment. Lifting refers to moving of a load either up or down. Lifting devices comprises of chainblocks, hoists, mobile cranes, overhead cranes, hydra-sets and slings.
In most countries, enforcement of lifting standards is done by the government through designated agencies (C. Wilkinson,2001).The government also enacts occupational health and safety legislations that also contain the standards of lifting. This by itself is the first major challenge when it comes to enforcing the standards for lifting due to the fact that most of these legislations are obsolete and weak. They do not give the agencies and safety inspectors enough power to enforce the standards for lifting. Furthermore, the said legislations do not address current lifting risks hence cannot be enforced on the current work environment. For example most lifting standards being used were set with only factories and workshops in mind and hence making the enforcement in other worksites difficult.
Insufficient resources and manpower also makes enforcement of lifting standards difficult. The number of inspectors required in order to carry out regular safety inspection on lifting operations is lacking in most countries. This therefore forces the inspectors, who are at times ill equipped, to only visit worksite with known major lifting risks. Enforcement of these standards is further hindered by the fact that most of the standards are unclear from the workers point of view and cannot be used to uphold the law (P. Chaturvedi, 2005).This results from the fact that the workers and the workers unions are usually not involved in drafting the standards making their enforcement an uphill task. Non-cooperation from the side of the employer is another challenge. It is usually the duty of the employer to train their employees on weight lifting standards and procedures, however most employers do not carry out the training.
References
C. Wilkinson. (2001)Fundamentals of Health at Work: Social Dimensions .Canada, Deerpark
Publishing Services. Print
P. Chaturvedi (2005).Managing Safety Challenges Ahead. New Delhi, India. Concept Publishing
Company. Print