Adding the support
Experienced nurses are in a position to guide novice nurses as they begin their journey into the professional practice of nursing through mentorship and training. Across all levels of nursing, mentoring and/or preceptor programs exist and have shown to be effective, especially in the development of nursing leaders. Being a mentor is considered a primary aspect of leadership. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation asserts that mentoring benefits the profession as a whole by helping to develop nurse leaders, retain nurses, and diversify the nursing workforce. Mentorships help to cultivate collegial relationships, encourage professional growth and development, and improve self-confidence and overall morale.
Effective mentorship starts with evaluation of learning styles and forward planning; the mentor must recognize the mentee’s learning style to understand individual learning needs. This enables the mentor to design appropriate interventions and guidance, which support an individual’s progression. It also provides a structured framework to increase competency. This process must be continually reevaluated and feedback should be provided to the individual. It’s equally important that mentorship programs are evaluated by the mentee so that the quality of the learning experience is enhanced to its full potential.
Another approach to ensure that effective communication and relationship building are established among nurse leaders is through interdisciplinary collaboration. In the formal academic environment for healthcare providers, reforming the education requirements to include interdisciplinary teamwork and relationship building should be considered. Hospitals, with their structured hierarchy, which is often based on education and salary, inherently create an environment that may not support true collaboration.
Organizational leaders should evaluate the collaborative capacity of the team. Often, when staff members are educated in hospitals, nurses are separated from physicians.
Consider intentionally mixing the class/in-service with different disciplines. This will promote effective communication between the different disciplines, allowing for a new appreciation and respect for the strengths and individual perspectives of others, which could eventually lead to better environment and patient outcomes. Ensuring that all disciplines are represented on key organizational committees and teams, such as performance improvement teams or committees designed to change policy, can also support collaboration.
Other interventions that have been successful in developing interdisciplinary collaboration are daily interdisciplinary rounds and care plans that support interventions from different disciplines. These interventions simply require time for establishing the routine.
Several academic institutions have piloted and implemented this interdisciplinary approach with positive results, but it’s slow to become the standard.