NEW – Award in Undergraduate Nurse Mentorship

This Award is targeted for registered nurses working in a health care setting in order to be able to mentor MCAST nursing students

Course Description

The unit sets out to provide nurses, with the necessary skills and education to support high quality learning for students in clinical placement settings, as a requirement stipulated by the IWA 35:2020, the ISO Standard governing clinical placements. Nurses will explore the role of the mentor in providing effective clinical learning experiences to nursing students and recognise the key responsibilities of the mentor in practice settings. Nurses will also discuss theories and strategies that can help them support students in applying their knowledge and achieve key skills and competencies required for completion of their studies. Nurses will also understand the importance of providing effective feedback and strategies for assessing clinical competencies and ensuring students are safe to practice in clinical settings. Nurses will be encouraged to reflect on ethical considerations and potential challenges that may be encountered when mentoring students in practice settings, including ways of addressing them. Nurses will therefore learn about various ways to facilitate learning in practice environments to students with different learning styles and to adopt a life-long and life-wide learning approach to mentorship in response to different students’ needs and changes in healthcare services.

This course is a requirement in the standards of education of the profession.

Learning Outcomes

LO1      Explain the role of the nurse mentor in providing effective clinical learning experiences.

LO2      Evaluate the importance of effective learning in a clinical practice setting.

LO3      Recognise the value of effective feedback and assessment in clinical practice settings.

LO4      Identify ethical considerations and challenges in mentoring students in clinical practice settings.