Mentoring and Leadership

Mentoring and Leadership
Your Name
College of Nursing
NR451 RN Capstone Course
Instructor
Due Date
Mentoring and Leadership
Despite being used hand in hand, mentoring and leadership are pretty contrasting by their definition. Leadership is an attribute that leads other people towards accomplishing their goals and contributing to the unified mission. Unlike a leader, a mentor guides, help, and provides consultation to the mentee, setting the mentee’s goals and defining their mission and vision to help them accomplish long-term success. Leadership in nursing has been essentially influential in improving care quality through direct participation in clinical accessibility (Hafsteinsdóttir et al., 2017). It flourishes in decorum that promotes clarity in vision and an environment led by motivated and empowered nursing staff. On the other hand, nursing mentors benefit mentees and leaders alike by inspiring them to be efficient in their jobs by using their skill set that involves empathy, compassionate care, and resilience. Mentors also promote practicing critical analysis and value mentees’ feedback.
Clinical Experience
As a mentee, I realized that my mentor was not simply nurturing my academic and personal growth but also encouraged me to grow out of my comfort zone, learn the hard way, and upskill. ‘The role of a mentor or preceptor as a form of support is essential, as they guide students in their clinical learning process and professional growth to be able to be independent practitioners’ (van Rooyen et al., 2018). During my clinical experience, I worked with patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Most patients had cases of advanced communicable chronic illnesses such as cardiac or respiratory malfunctions and gastrointestinal or gastro-urinary inflammations and infections such as infections, cellulitis, or even sepsis.
In the ICU, nurse-to-patient interaction is adequate but limited as most patients are in a vegetative state and cannot respond or exhibit conscious behavioral traits and actions. However, the nurse-to-nurse interactions are efficient, educating, empowering, and enlightening in my experience. I gained relevant knowledge, which has significantly contributed to my expertise as a nurse and inculcated the enthusiasm to channel and share that expertise to inspire others through a respectful attitude. My mentor’s eagerness to invest in their mentees, not only time and efforts but also meaning conversations and motivation, have been the light in my path.
The ICU sees the most deaths after the emergency room. At times losing a patient who had even just 1% of survival becomes severely depressing, as we end up feeling useless and question our credibility. In such times mentors play such a crucial role in uplifting by building confidence and pushing the mentees to keep doing their best no matter the outcomes because there is only so much that can be done.
Learning Outcomes
One of the takeaways from my experience is the knowledge and perseverance that I gained. I learned to apply appropriate leadership and management principles in designing, coordinating, managing, and advocating for meeting the complex healthcare needs of individuals, families, and groups in various phases of life span. One of the main aspects is servant leadership which ensures equality among people regardless of their financial standing, race, or gender (Kester 2018). By their primitive nature, nurse leaders are programmed to be advocates for their patients and make sure that people get quality care. The complex healthcare needs of people demand that their voices are amplified and heard, especially by those on higher platforms. It also promotes the protection of patients' rights and makes their presence necessary in places where decisions regarding their health and wellbeing are being made.
Another takeaway was the participation in the informal critique of the healthcare delivery system and identity for change in nursing and healthcare delivery. I observed that we could reach full potential in our work; there is a need for constant improvement of care quality and its outcomes or aftermath. The hospital has an enhanced organizational culture that focuses on reshaping care delivery by building resilient and robust nurse leaders skilled enough to be proactive leaders and advocate for their patients in the C-suite. The recent shift to value-based care has been a severe challenge for nurse leaders, as t...