LEARNING OUTCOME ONE

Throughout this assignment I will critically reflect and appraise the role of the mentor in professional practice which should enable me to facilitate learning in my practice setting. It will be appended with a critical incident that I feel is relevant, to my present and future practice, utilising a reflective model in the process.
The word mentor is of Greek origin, the concept stemmed from Homer’s odyssey, where mentor a wise and trusted friend of Odysseus took on the education of his son Telamachis, in the absence of his friend. Carruthers (1993) gives a further dimension, that “this meant that mentor had to be a father figure, teacher, role model, approachable councillor, trusted advisor, challenger and encourager”.
The compact Oxford English Dictionary describe mentor as “an experienced person in an organisation or institution who trains and counsels new employees or students”(www.askoxford.com).
Mentoring in pre registration nurse education has become a widely accepted practice since the introduction of project 2000 (Lee, 2006). Most of the literature written in the early 1990’s involved defining the concept and determining the nature of the mentoring role. The lack of agreement regarding the role and functions of mentors was a common feature. Terms such as mentor, preceptor facilitator and supervisor were all used interchangeably creating an overlay of role functions which were not clearly defined (Neary, 2000). Hamilton (1993) describes the role of mentoring as being a way of helping another understand more fully and learn comprehensively from day to day experience, however Northcott (2000) recognised that the mentor’s role can be extremely complicated and not one to be taken lightly. With this is mind mentors play a major role in enhancing learning for students, through support, acting as role models and assessors. Spouce (2001)