Mentor Matters

A mentor has the power to transform the experiences of an aspiring nurse or midwife and shape the future

practitioner they will become. One of our recent graduate midwives compared life as a student to that of a pregnant

woman; the first year as first trimester filled with excitement and anticipation, the second year building knowledge

and understanding of what is to come, and the final year, feeling the impending sense of responsibility before

birthing into a new role. Mentors skilfully guide students through this process and it is only right that we recognise

the hard work and dedication this requires. Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital have recently announced

Francesca Fisher as their Mentor of the Year. Both student midwives and Francesca’s colleagues within the Trust

voted for her to receive this award. We caught up with Francesca to find out what it takes to be Mentor of the Year.

Mentor of the Year Award: Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital

The termly newsletter from the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery& Palliative Care Issue 9| Term 2 |2018

Welcome to the 9th edition of Mentor Matters, the newsletter produced for all mentors of King’s College London students

from the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care. In this issue of Mentor Matters we celebrate

excellent mentorship and share updates and practice from our Trust partners. Do let us know if you have any stories or

features that you would like included in this newsletter, we would love to hear from you.

Network for Excellence in Clinical Education (NECE)

Mentor Matters email us at clinicalteachers@kcl.ac.uk Issue 9| Term 2 |2018

“I always try and give positive feedback where it’s due, as well as constructivecriticism. If a shift is busy and I feel I don’t have the chance to explain everythingwe’ve done or during an emergency situation, I always try to have a reflective ordebriefing session with my student before the shift ends. I can still provide thoroughcare to women at the same time as making sure my student feels involved.”

FrancescaFisher,LabourWardMidwife

Using games to support learning in pre-registration education

How did you become a mentor?

Do you have any tips for mentors ?

“I have been a sign off mentor for about 2 and half years. I wanted to do thementorship course, in the hope that it would help me feel more equipped to supportstudents with their training and for my professional development. I really enjoyworking alongside students and seeing them improve their skills and achieve thegoals that they set themselves. I feel a real sense of pride in seeing students that youmentored, qualifying and becoming excellent midwives.”

The latest NECE event took place on 21.11.2017 and

considered the use of clinical education programmes,

specifically games, that can be used as a learning tool

in practise. Several types of games, from board games

to crosswords, have been used successfully by the KCL

clinical teacher team with learners in the clinical

environment. Furthermore, research in this area has

recognised that games can be creative, dynamic and

fun (Abdulmajed et al. 2015) whilst also capturing the

interest of learners who may be less attentive to the

traditional, didactic, approach to education (Stanley &

Latimer 2011).

As such four different games were played during this

event with delegates providing immediate feedback on

their efficacy. Delegates stated that they found playing

these games fun and that they had a new perspective

on learning in clinical practice as a result. All delegates

advised that they will be implementing games into their

clinical education with one delegate advising that she

was planning to introduce games the following week.

Abdulmajed H., Soo Park Y., & Tekian A. (2015) Assessment of

educational games for health professionals: A systematic review of

trends and outcomes. Medical Teacher 37 (2015) S27-S32

Stanley D. & Latimer K. (2011) The Ward: A simulation game for

nursing students. Nurse Education in Practice. 11 (2011) 20-25

If you would like to know more about this event, other NECE events, or the use of games in clinical

practice please contact clinicalteachers@kcl.ac.uk or visit

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/Clinical-Education/Innovation/NECE.aspx

Cannulation and Venepuncture

The CEF therefore gives pre-registration nursing

students an opportunity to recognise their own learning

needs and identify areas where they wish to develop

their skills, knowledge and understanding of events.

This enables personal and professional development

with support of peers and link lecturers.

The concept of the CEF is supported by educational

theory, encompassing the idea that for learning to

occur, the learner must engage in critical thinking and

problem solving (Kaufmann & Mann 2013). Therefore

the CEF experience aims to aid learners to develop

their knowledge and gain further understanding of their

experiences whilst also enabling them to adopt new

concepts, adapt previous learning or even replace

existing concepts as new ideas are introduced.

Students are therefore able to develop their clinical

reasoning and problem solving skills through

exploration of clinical issues relevant to them.

Kauffman, D.M. & Mann, K.V. (2013) Teaching and learning in medicaleducation: how theory can inform practice. In: SWANICK, T.Understanding Medical Education: Evidence, Theory and Practice. (2nd ed.)Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. 7-29.

King’s students are taking part in ‘Clinical

Experience Forums’ (CEFs) whilst on clinical

placement: in this article we shine a spotlight on

them, discussing what they are, who facilitates

them and what students can gain from attending.

At University College London Hospital one of the

established elements of the pre-registration teaching

programme is the Clinical Experience Forum (CEF).

The CEF, which runs monthly, is led by the King’s link

lecturer team. This forum invites students to share

their learning experiences from clinical practice with

each other and thus provides them with an opportunity

to reflect and learn together.

The CEF provides a number of learning and

development opportunities as it creates a space for

students to reflect on their own clinical experiences.

These experiences, which often relate to clinical,

professional and ethical issues they have encountered

in clinical practice are then discussed by the peer

group.

Editors: Anya Benton, Sarah Curr, Alice Kitt & Gabby Saul, Clinical Teachers (FNFNM& P C )

Spotlight on Clinical Experience Forum

In our last issue we featured the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) proposed new standards for pre-

registration nursing and midwifery education. One skill proposed in the draft is venepuncture and cannulation with

the expectation that at the point of registration the nurse will be able to “use best practice approaches to

undertake venepuncture and cannulation and blood sampling.” (NMC, 2017; p 27). The adult nursing department

within the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care have undertaken a pilot project, with the support of

our host Trusts, which aims to equip students with the skills prior to registration.

Students taking part in this pilot will complete an eLearning package that has been developed and delivered by

staff within the faculty. Students are then assessed using a multiple choice question exam before they undertake

a three hour practical session. Once they have completed all of these elements, they may, if Trust policy permits,

go on to complete a period of supervised practice. Feedback from this pilot has been resoundingly positive and

the Faculty intends to deliver this educational package to both adult nursing undergraduate and post graduate

students across the 2018/9 curriculum. If you have any questions or would like to know more about this project

please contact us on the email below.

Mentor Matters Issue 9| Term 2 |2018email us at clinicalteachers@kcl.ac.uk