A clinical monitoring framework for student nurses in Mauritius

Abstract

One of the major challenges associated with nursing education in this 21st century is the practice preparation of student nurses in this complex healthcare environment to ensure their fitness to practice. Practice training relies largely on mentoring which is central to the professional development of student nurses. In the local context of Mauritius, the clinical mentoring of students is service-led rather than education-driven. In the context of the current debate, it is becoming evident that the clinical mentoring system in Mauritius needs rethinking in order to respond to the emerging training and education needs of nurses. The aim of the study was to develop a contextually relevant clinical mentoring framework for student nurses in Mauritius in order to enhance the standard of student nurses’ training during clinical placements. A descriptive exploratory sequential mixed method with a cross-sectional design was used in this study. The sample for the qualitative phase consisted of eight nurses, while there were 255 nurses and 115 students in the quantitative phase. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and a self-administered questionnaire, respectively. The findings were synthesised using Dickoff et al’s (1968) survey list to develop the clinical mentoring framework for student nurses. The findings of the qualitative phase indicated that the current learning support system for students in the clinical settings did not reflect what mentoring should be about. Mentoring per se was not practiced, but rather a form of clinical accompaniment resulting in the practice being less effective for its purpose. A variety of activities/roles were described that nurses fulfil in everyday clinical practice that included some aspects of a mentoring approach. Participants provided a number of pre-requisites needed for the mentoring process. The results of the quantitative phase revealed that both students and nurses recognised that the mentoring system was informal. They also shared the same views regarding barriers to mentoring, such as staff shortage, lack of resources, and inadequate support from management and the Central School of Nursing (CSN). Along with mentoring competencies, teaching, assessing, communication, managerial and leadership skills, were identified as core competencies for mentors. Effective clinical mentoring requires an understanding of the mentoring process from a broader perspective. Mentors should be equipped with core competencies. Successful mentoring outcomes are dependent on a conducive clinical learning environment (CLE) and the approach used to mentor. The framework on mentoring could guide and provide a holistic approach to mentoring students in CLEs. However, emphasis must be placed on the collaboration between the management, the clinical setting and the CSN. The clinical framework developed from this study can be tested for its effectiveness.