Mentorship: The Experiences of a Tutor in a Pre-registration Operating Department Practice Education Programme

Abstract

Introduction The author is a theatre nurse with more than twenty years experience of perioperative care. For the majority of her time in clinical practice the author was involved in the training and education of both student nurses and student operating department practitioners (ODPs). This involvement started, following training, as a mentor and assessor for both groups of students, leading to the position of internal verifier for the NVQ programmes for ODPs and perioperative health support workers. This experience in education and training led to promotion as training co-ordinator for the critical care directorate of a busy district general hospital. For the past seven years the author has been employed as a senior lecturer on a three year ODP pre-registration programme at a North West university.

An exploration of Operating Department Practice students' experiences of placement support during their first perioperative clinical placement

“…This was followed by registration of the profession in 2004. However, having two different professions undertaking exactly the same roles can lead to friction (Hinton, 2009;Williams, 2009) and this can be especially daunting for ODP students being taught and assessed by nurses as well as ODPs and for nurse students being taught and assessed by ODP mentors. The study explored the relationship between the mentor and the student with regards to the ODP students' understanding of the mentorship and support processes.…”

“…Working in operating theatres, worldwide can be very challenging for all members of staff (Castelluccio, 2012;Okoli, 2010;Ralph et al 2013;Steevenson 2006) including students. However, students are more vulnerable because of their lack of experience of the clinical setting (Hinton 2009). It is therefore imperative that students and mentors develop effective working relationships that have as their cornerstone trust and respect.…”

The effect of mentoring on clinical perioperative competence in operating room nursing students

“…Besides the advantages for mentees, others involved in a mentoring relationship might benefit from the relationship; for example, a mentor can obtain a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment due to experiencing successful teaching and leadership (Hinton ). These benefits may contribute to designing appropriate mentoring programmes in the field of nursing education (Patel et al .…”