Award in Nursing Mentorship

Learning Outcomes

Competences:

Students will develop the autonomy and responsibility to:

• Outline the roles and responsibilities of a Mentor.
• Apply efficient communication and interpersonal skills.
• Apply the principles of assessing and evaluating students in a fair and valid manner.
• Adopt appropriate teaching and learning strategies.
• Contribute to the personal and professional development of the students.
• Promote quality assurance and continuous improvement.

Knowledge:

At the end of the programme, the learner will be able to:

Outline the roles and responsibilities of a Mentor.

• Defining the role of mentoring in nursing education.
• Delineating the legal and professional responsibilities under Malta’s Health Care Professions Act 2003 and CNM Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct (2019).
• Familiarising oneself with the EU nursing directives and requirements.
• Acquiring awareness about learning theories, adult education principles, and adaptation strategies.
• Identifying the documentation requirements and describing the importance of record-keeping.
• Recognising the importance of effective partnerships and educational linking.
• Discussing relevant legal and ethical considerations.

Apply efficient communication and interpersonal skills.

• Recognising the importance of trust-building strategies, active listening, and appropriate questioning skills.
• Critically discussing how to maintain professional boundaries and how to manage power dynamics in mentor-student relationships.
• Learning how to deal with conflict resolution.
• Receiving, reflecting on, and providing constructive feedback.

Apply the principles of assessing and evaluating students in a fair and valid manner.

• Outlining the principles of assessment.
• Familiarising oneself with competency-based evaluation frameworks.
• Appraising students’ portfolios and reflective practice and providing constructive feedback.
• Evaluating the concept of accountability for assessment in nursing education.
• Discussing the importance of quality assurance in assessment.
• Critically examining curriculum and assessment documentation to ensure alignment with professional standards.

Adopt appropriate teaching and learning strategies.

• Critically evaluating theories and methods for teaching students’ skills in practice.
• Assessing skill development models.
• Integrating evidence-based and innovative teaching strategies.
• Managing and learning from errors.
• Engaging in safe practice supervision.
• Discussing the importance of quality assurance in teaching and learning.
• Critically analysing approaches to negotiating learning and developing portfolios of evidence as strategies to support student-centred education.
• Learning how to make use of digital learning tools in clinical education.

Contribute to the personal and professional development of the students.

• Supporting the students’ professional identity.
• Identifying signs of distress in students and promoting mental health awareness and well-being.
• Promoting diverse, equal, and inclusive learning environments.

Promote quality assurance and continuous improvement.

• Collecting and analysing student feedback.
• Engaging in peer review.

Conducting a personal learning needs assessment.

Skills:

At the end of the programme, the learner will be able to:

• Demonstrate accountability for student learning and patient safety.
• Ensure quality assurance in clinical placements.
• Demonstrate cultural competence in mentoring diverse students.
• Provide constructive feedback and demonstrate cultural sensitivity in communication.
• Collaborate and communicate efficiently with academic staff, clinical teams, and other healthcare professionals.
• Observe and document student performance and progress.
• Make use of different types of teaching and learning styles (e.g., scaffolding learning) to develop the necessary skills and competencies.
• Offer support to (struggling students) and refer them to additional support.
• Engage in professional development planning.

Award-Specific Learner Skills

At the end of the award, the learner will be able to:

• Assess the students’ practice using appropriate checklists.
• Support students in practice placements.
• Create a supportive and safe learning environment.

Digital Skills and Competences

At the end of the award, the learner will be able to:

• Make use of technology-enhanced learning tools in skill and competency development.
• Navigate through the online learning platform to find, download, and upload assignments, discussion boards, literature, tutorials, etc.