FAQ - Mentors

There are instances where a placement will occur either partially or completely at the mentor's work site. Students entering any worksite must conform to all policies, including using proper infection prevention and control precautions, criminal record checks etc...

Yes! During the Winter 2020 term, we had several students successfully complete virtual leadership fieldwork placements. Then when COVID-19 hit - many of our students transitioned to virtual placements to complete their projects.  Here are a few things that we learned:

• • Virtual leadership placements are effective and rewarding for both mentors and students.

  • The mentor/student relationship needs a bit of up-front work.  We suggest that:

    • Mentors and student meet using a video platform (i.e. Zoom, Skype) at least 2 times weekly, for the first few weeks, to develop an effective mentoring relationship.

    • Student should provide mentors, at least on a weekly basis, an update on their project(s). This may be done in person or via email and consist of tangible products (i.e. summary of results from a literature search, outline for a learning module, section of a policy etc...) for mentors to assess student progression and provide timely feedback.

Students can work on a series of smaller projects or a single larger project.  This will depend on the needs of the fieldwork placement site.  Here are examples of projects some of our NURS 425 students worked on in recent placements:

• • Developed an online orientation website for new nursing faculty staff.

  • Developed an online feedback tool to better support the annual appraisal of casual nursing employees.

  • Restructured a health clinic to improve patient flow, confidentiality, and hygiene.

  • Designed an educational tool for nursing aides in a long-term care setting to improve the management of responsive behaviours among people with dementia.

  • Created a lobbying framework to petition for the inclusion of mental health first and suicide prevention training in health education programs.

  • Completed literature searches to support the development of an obesity education program.

  • Contributed to the development of governmental policies in response to recent legislative changes.

As a fieldwork mentor, you are responsible for being present in the setting or wherever is appropriate to act as a role model, teacher, facilitator, and guide of the individual student who is new to the area.

No. As this is not a clinical placement, students must not perform any restricted activities or direct patient care during this leadership fieldwork experience​.

To reinforce the non-clinical nature of this fieldwork experience, students are not to wear scrubs or any other clinical attire. They are directed to wear business casual attire along with their University of Alberta Faculty of Nursing name tag.

Being a fieldwork mentor usually requires support from the administration of the agency where you are working. It also requires the support of your manager or supervisor. In addition to this agency support, it is critical that you have the support of faculty from the program or course in which the leadership fieldwork experience is planned and in which the student is enrolled.

Please contact a course profession if you have specific questions about required learning experiences that are appropriate for the students, concerns regarding the performance of your assigned mentee, and any questions that generally impact the overall fieldwork placement or learning experience.

Because you will be working with particular students for a designated period, you will be required to provide feedback concerning their performance in terms of how competent they are. For that reason, you will need to document the various aspects of their performance as you observe them over that period. Also, an essential part of this function is to communicate on a regular basis with your mentee and to stay in contact with the faculty involved in the course in which the fieldwork placement is occurring.

One of the most important aspects of the fieldwork experience is open communication. It is through open communication that any concerns, issues, or problems can be dealt with directly, efficiently, and effectively. It is, therefore, critical throughout the experience that you meet regularly one-on-one with your students so that you can address how they are doing on an ongoing basis. In the event you do find that a student is not performing adequately, you need to address it directly and privately with that student. Never under any circumstances discuss a performance issue with a student in front of others. During your interaction with the student, it is important that you discuss ways in which he or she can improve his or her performance. It is important also that you designate a specific time frame during which he or she will be expected to improve performance. Finally, be specific about what will happen if he or she does not demonstrate improvement once that time has elapsed. Above all keep the faculty apprised of the situation from the very beginning. In fact, it is essential that you involve the faculty immediately because they can be an excellent resource and source of support when it comes to dealing with this kind of situation

While you will be expected to provide feedback on student performance, you will not be responsible for grading students or giving them marks. Grading is the responsibility of the faculty. Supervising faculty will be solely responsible for determining whether each student has achieved sufficient progress to pass the fieldwork portion of NURS 425. Faculty will use the following data sources to determine student standing in their fieldwork: Weekly progress reports, midterm evaluation, final evaluation, observational data from site visits, and feedback from the fieldwork mentor.

If you find that there is less faculty contact than you would like, it would be entirely appropriate for you to contact the faculty member directly yourself through phone messages or e-mail, or to have the student indicate to the faculty that you would like to connect. If none of these approaches is successful then it is wise for you to ascertain who is responsible for coordinating the course and to contact that particular person directly. If no contact is being made you could connect with the Course Lead who oversees the entire course to express your concerns.

That depends. Some programs that offer fieldwork experiences provide fieldwork mentors with a letter of commendation from the Dean of the Faculty of Nursing acknowledging their contribution to student learning. In some cases, fieldwork mentors are provided with name tags that indicate their status as a fieldwork mentor. Others are provided with options to enroll in a variety of university or college courses that are tuition free. And, some fieldwork mentors may receive a monetary remuneration for their role. Inevitably, however, it is well documented that leaders

who participate as fieldwork mentors describe their experiences as extremely rewarding. Remarkably they find that not only do they contribute to student learning but that their learning is increased as well. On a broader perspective, in participating in the fieldwork model of teaching you contribute to strengthening the connection between leadership and education, a connection that is critical to the advancement of the profession of nursing as a whole.

This is an area that is important to your professional development. Especially after your first fieldwork experience you will want and need feedback about your fieldwork mentoring skills. Feedback with regard to how you are doing as a fieldwork mentor may be derived from informally asking others who are in a position to observe you in the fieldwork mentor role. Such individuals can include the mentee, other staff, management, and the faculty contact person. Some programs have a formal evaluation form.The mentee uses this form to evaluate the fieldwork mentor and the results are shared with the fieldwork mentor. The value of such a form is that it acknowledges the importance of the fieldwork mentor role; assists the mentee in reflecting upon how the fieldwork mentor is performing; and may lead into discussions about evaluation.

Mentees are being socialized into a leadership or professional role. As such they are responsible for notifying you of any absence regardless of the reasons. If a mentee is ill for a number of days you may have to ask him/her to extend his or her time with you. Mentees are required to fulfill the mandate of the leadership fieldwork experience, and while some may miss a few days throughout the experience and still meet the required time frame, others may be required to extend the time of fieldwork owing to time missed. You should notify the faculty contact person. Often, you will find that there are instances during which a student will be ill one day, return for a few days, and then report in ill again. If you observe this pattern of behavior, it is important that you document the days missed and share your findings with the mentee. Some mentees may have ongoing health problems that may hinder their progress.They are under no obligation to disclose the specifics of the health problem to you. An alternative placement may have to be arranged, however, or other arrangements pursued so that they are afforded the opportunity to achieve their learning objectives.

This situation does occur on a fairly regular basis. You may be ill, require an unanticipated leave of absence, or even obtain a new position. If you know in advance that you will be away from the site, it is important that you arrange for a co-fieldwork mentor with another staff member. In the case of unanticipated illness, and depending on the area, a mentee may be informed that he or she cannot practice without the fieldwork mentor and be subsequently asked to leave. Management personnel may ask another staff member to fieldwork mentor or a faculty member may arrange an alternate experience. Not infrequently there have been instances in which fieldwork mentors have reported to work despite feeling ill because they knew that a mentee was relying on them. It is important to remember that fieldwork mentoring is an experience that can and should be shared.