Challenges Facing Sustainable Clinical Mentorship among Nurse Mentors in the Clinical Areas

Abstract

Nursing education professionals face myriad challenges in the 21st century in their effort to prepare student nurses to serve in a complex healthcare environment. Amidst the Covid 19 outbreak, it is unclear how clinical nurse mentors will guide the student nurses in low resource settings. This study explores the challenges facing sustainable clinical mentorship among nurse mentors in selected county hospitals in Kenya. A qualitative approach was used with a purposive sample of 20 nurses. Data was collected through key informant interviews and later analyzed thematically. The three stages of mentorship (initiation, working and termination) was not well understood. The mentor-mentee relationship was not cordial and friendly. Training of mentors was not adequate due to lack of infrastructure and staff turnover. There was no harmonized working relationship and communication between the training institutions and the hospitals hence clinical teaching and assessments were not adequately coordinated. Large numbers of student nurses in the clinical areas lacked clear guidelines on the sustainability of clinical mentorship amidst the Covid 19 outbreak. Mentors should be equipped with core competencies and necessary resources including but not limited to well-equipped skills labortories, well updated libraries with training manuals and modules in the hospitals as well as resource centers. Training of more mentors is necessary to sustain mentorship amidst the Covid 19 pandemic.