The School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Cape Coast has organised a day’s workshop for sandwich student nurses on the topic, “Developing a Mentoring Relationship".
The training was to promote the career success of the participants, impact their chosen career path, improve job satisfaction and compensation, and optimize research productivity.
The facilitator of the workshop, Prof. Tina Reid, a Fulbright Scholar from the University of Salisbury, USA took participants through the topic.
Giving her opening remarks, the Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Dr. Nancy I. Ebu Enyan passionately appealed to nurses and midwives to restore the dented and sunken image of the nursing and midwifery profession through practice of mentorship.
"You can all attest to the fact that the image of the Ghanaian nurse and midwife is not something that we can all boast of. But I believe that with effective mentorship, we should be able to change the narrative," she indicated.
Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery-UCC, Dr. Nancy I. Ebu Enyan
She pointed out the Ministry of Health had developed a National Policy guideline for Nursing and Midwifery Professional Mentorship programme to improve the career pathways of nurses and midwives.
The Dean also advised nurses and midwives to practice with the greatest degree of professionalism and ethical standards, to impact positively on the lives of the people.
She said nurses and midwives could add value to what they do and develop a good career if they got the right people to learn from.
In her presentation, the facilitator of the workshop, Prof. Tina Reid asked nurses to seek for the right people to mentor them in their professional career development. She noted mentors were essential in developing great future nurses, nurse leaders and nurse educators.
Prof. Reid cautioned nurses that mentorship was not an avenue to make money, but a modest way to give back to society. She appealed to the student nurses not to graduate school before indulging in mentorship and encouraged them to begin mentorship in earnest.
"You are young right now, but just imagine after you have been in the profession for a long period of time and you are ready to retire, who is going to replace you?", Prof. Reid rhetorically asked the student nurses.
Prof. Tina Reid, a Fulbright Scholar from University of Salisbury, USA
Prof Reid cited some barriers of mentoring as the mismatched expectations between mentor and mentee, lack of available mentors, time, resources and compensation for mentors, amongst others.
The Fulbright Scholar admonished nurses to be compassionate and encourage patients through their illnesses.
"It is not about treating your patients how you want to be treated but treat them how they want to be treated," she noted and called on them to strive to be great nurses and not average nurses.
A participant in the workshop asking a question
Prof. Reid mentioned increased self-confidence, increased self-awareness, exposure to new and different perspectives, among others, as benefits of mentees.
The workshop, held at the School of Medical Sciences Auditorium-UCC, was chaired by the Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Dr. Nancy I. Ebu Enyan.
Source: Documentation and information Section-UCC