nmc mentorship

[marantha]

Hi, I see there are a lot of nurses here, please would you help me with an issue my friend is currently experiencing?
She is currently undertaking a Return To Practice Course. Her mentor- helpful though my friend says she is- works much of her time on night shifts.
My friend has now got a second mentor but she is concerned that this second mentor- again, she states that this second mentor is extremely helpful and supportive of her- is not a "sign-off" mentor (whatever that means- sorry, not a nurse myself).
What should she do? I got to be honest, the people running the course don't seem to be able to clarify this issue for her.
I don't want my mate to fail on a technicality.
Overall, she reports that she is doing well on the ward on which she has been placed and has no other issues.

Live in England if that means anything (?)

you do need at least one sign off mentor - this is the person who does the main paperwork with aims and objectives / learning outcomes; mid way review and final sign off. however, you can have any nurse whos done the appropriate training sign off individual competencies and support the student on practice. I think there is a minimum number hours that you do need to do with the sign off mentor.

so, your friend's first mentor is a sign off mentor then she should be ok, as long as she can do the right amount of hours with her.

my colleague has a wealth of knowledge on this one so will gleam as much info as I can and post again

My understanding is that the sign off mentor needs only to see the specific NMC competencies. There will be other competencies that can be looked at by another suitably qualified nurse...ie the second mentor, It's a good thing she has the two mentors as it shows the sign off mentor has asked someone who'se working with your friend regularly to help out instead of just leaving her to it. Also, as twinkly says it's important she makes sure she has a mid-point review, that way if she's not meeting the objectives she needs to, it can be raised. If it isn't raised and she doesn't meet her competencies by the end, she would then have every right to point out any lack of support/resources etc. I'm a bit stunned that the people running the course can't clarify this for her. Isn't there stuff on the NMC website about it?
Anyway...hope she gets on OK.

Thanks for all advice so far received.

My mate pointed out to ward manager/sister- type person about her mentor working nights.
A few days later, another nurse said to my friend that she would be her second mentor.
Her "practice facilitator" also knows about the issue.

My mate isn't a trouble-maker at all and wishes to sail through with no problems or getting anybody's back up, but surely, if there IS any issue over this, it is not my mate's job to know what the criteria for a sign-off mentor is, is it?

It's not her place to know these things, is it?
If there is any issue over this (hopefully, there won't be) surely she can plead this in her "defence" as it were.

P.S. I don't wish to offend any night-nurses but the default position for the ward my mate is on is that the patients go to bed and sleep - all the paperwork and meetings and procedures go on during the day.

I'm not sure about people returning to practice, as I haven't supervised any myself but usually students do a variety of placements to meet the competencies (though I work in mental health) As far as working at night goes, it depends on the type of ward...there might be places that are as busy at night. There are usually specific objectives to be met at night anyway. It troubles me to to hear 'she's not a trouble maker'...the culture of not voicing real concerns is a dangerous one don't you think? I think an important part of the job is being assertive enough to speak up when things aren't right and ultimately she should be respected for this.

Mentorship is a major issue for most nursing/midwifing students. There are never enough qualified mentors to go around, mentors (being people) often work part time, different hours or days to the students. Mentors are not given protected time to spend with their students for paperwork or discussion or real teaching, meaning they often do it in their own time unpaid. Mentors have a huge responsibility to ensure students are competent and the stress of having to fail students who are not.

If your friend is having trouble getting her competencies signed off she needs to go back to the university and tell them. Also the trust she is placed with has an obligation to ensure she has suitable mentors (they have agreements with the universities) so there will be a practice link type person to talk to.

It is rather hard to stand up and demand your rights to a suitable learning environment and not be seen as rocking the boat, particularly if you are aiming to get a job in the area where you are placed.

I am both a student (midwife) and mentor (nurse) and the system does not work. I've spent hours with students unpaid and at the moment am allocated a mentor who works 2 days a week, often coinciding with days I can't be there because I am in uni. Meaning I am left floundering without a named person to work with, worrying about getting the right boxes ticked and no continuity in practice .

sorry - rant over.

EccentricaGallumbits If the trust has an obligation to place her with the right mentors, then my mate can honestly stand up and say that she believed the second mentor to be appropriate- and, frankly, cause a stink if they deny at a later date.
She is normally placid but will fight if her back's against the wall.

I don't mind your rant, rant away!

trusts have arrangements with the strategic health authority and universities to ensure learning and development is adequate/effectve/appropriate.

she needs to check with the university what guidelines they have for who is an appropriate mentor. This can vary a bit.

Usually any qualified member of staff can supervise in practice. A qualified mentor (with the right qualification - Teaching and assessing in practice, or Facilitating Learning and Assessing in Practice) can sign off competncices. A sign off mentor is one with the right amount of experience and has signed the right bit of paper from the NMC and is the one who does the final signing off bit which goes back to the NMC at tyhe very end of the course to state the student is competent for qualification.

It should be fine, she should be able to work with the second mentor who can then tell the sign off mentor that she is fine to be signed off for x,y,z and the sign off mentor could take the other mentor's word for it and sign your friend off.

However your friend needs to check with herr sign off mentor that she would be happy to do this as some people arent. If she says no then she may have to work nights with her.

I'm a second mentor and my student's sign off mentor is happy to sign stuff off if I say she can do it.

My mate has had a chat with the practice facilitator as there seems to be a requirement that she spends 40% of time with primary mentor.
The facilitator told her that this 40% requirement was for the mentor and not the student. My mate does not quite understand what was meant by this, nor do I, anyone clarify?

there has always been a set % of time for working with your named mentor. the problem of course comes when night shifts are involved as most students won't do this. But as long as the named mentor isn't on permenant nights it shouldn't be a problem. If they are permenant then she shouldn't have been assigned to her if she can't do night shifts for a proportion of her time.

found a couple of links from uni sites that discuss sign-off mentors in more detail. maybe check the uni site for your friend and see if there's any info there about how they have responded to the NMC changes to assessment in practice

sign-off mentors requirements

talks of protected time for sign-off mentors

uwe but links to nmc

in our organisation, my colleague became a sign-off mentor by default - right place, right time. this was led by the practice mentor from the uni. she has in turn observed myself and agreed I can be a sign off mentor. this info went back to the uni and am awaiting to hear how the nmc is informed. Everything to do with the changes has been led by the uni rather than our employee. The uni hold a list of placements where there are sign off mentors and send the final year students to these.

Everything is managed from uni, so I think your friend should speak to the uni and ask if there is indeed a sign off mentor located at this ward. If not she needs to move otherwise she's not going to get back on the register if this is her final placement in her course.

Hi Twinklytoes, your advice is very useful, however, can you help me clear something up?

Here's the situation as it stands, my mate was allocated a sign-off mentor who she later found out worked almost all nights.
She informed her ward manager and was given a second mentor by the ward.
Her "practice facilitator" is also aware of the situation of a second mentor.
Now my friend is working under the assumption that this second mentor can sign her off for some things.

If there is an issue over this (hopefully won't be) surely my friend can use that it is not HER place to know what the criteria for a sign-off mentor is? Surely it's not in her remit to know these things?
Like I said, she really, really, really does not want this to be an issue at all, but she needs to know whether or not she can use this in her defence if she has to.