Escaping From the Crabs: Mentoring and Professional Growth

An old fisherman once told me that you do not have to place a lid on a barrel full of crabs. He went on to explain that if one crab tries to climb up the side of the barrel to get out, the others band together to pull it back down. Does this scenario sound familiar to you? The world is in the grip of a serious nursing shortage. Healthcare cutbacks, stagnant pay scales, and overwhelming workloads are literally 'sucking the life' out of the nursing profession. Stress leave and sick time is on the rise as entry of new nurses into the profession is drastically declining. New nurses are moving out of the profession at a faster rate than ever before. To add insult to injury, healthcare cuts, nursing shortages, and overwhelming workloads have increased nurses' feelings of inadequacy and frustrations. The need for nursing retention strategies globally has never been higher. Mentoring just might be the answer to curbing this critical situation. But, how and where do you find a mentor?

Mentoring is a "distinctive interactive relationship between two individuals occurring most commonly in a professional setting" (Lee, 2000, p.26). Mentoring has been used in the business world as a strategy for professional development for years. Because business relies on productivity for success, they recognize the importance of a creative work environment, "in which employees can perform, excel, and find support to motivate themselves" (Lee, 2000, p.26). Because the healthcare industry is a human based business rather than sales orientated, this recipe for success is paradoxically an obstacle to mentoring in nursing. How can mentoring help the nursing shortage? Who has time to mentor when we can barely get our work done?

"A mentor is someone who takes a special interest in helping another person develop into a successful professional" (Gordon, 2000, p.30). Typically the mentor is older than the protégé by 8-15 years, and is more experienced. The mentor must have a firm belief in the novice's capability to succeed. In turn, the mentor becomes a role model, teacher, coach and advocate.
The novice/protégé is the less experienced nurse in the relationship. Typically the novice is a new graduate or orientating to a new area. It is the responsibility of the novice to select an appropriate mentor. Most successful pairings have resulted from the new nurse initiating the relationship. The novice is more apt to be open to learning and willing to seek advice or assistance from a mentor that they have selected. Years ago, a new nurse to my unit approached me frequently with questions as soon as her assigned mentor went to coffee break. The novice explained that she felt intimidated and patronized by her assigned mentor. She expressed disappointment that she felt 'babied' and was not encouraged to learn in a new and exciting specialty unit. She also explained that she felt drawn to my overt enthusiasm to teach. Lack of knowledge, confidence and encouragement leaves the new nurse feeling disillusioned and isolated. The majority of successful mentor/novice pairings have been informally formed and sought out by the novice.

Mentors should be discovered, not assigned. It is unfortunate that in many institutions, mentors are selected based on seniority or favoritism, rather than for positive and enthusiastic characteristics. Unfortunately there are no set guidelines in place, and the motivation of some mentors comes into question. Problematic behaviors center on the power of control. Over possessiveness, rejection of protégé, and misuse of power through manipulation are some issues that frequently occur. In one study, 57% of novices reported intimidation, over-manipulation, and demands of loyalty as negative behaviors with a resultant less than desirable outcome. (Suen, Chow, 2001, p.510). Some mentors may be over-protective, not fostering independence in the protégé, or the protégé may become too dependant on the mentor (Gordon, 2000). Because there are no specific criteria to be met, a great number of 'pseudo-mentors' are out there. Unfortunately, I am certain that a majority of nurses reading this article have encountered this type of nurse. My niece is currently in her 4th year of the university nursing program. She works as a student nurse on a neuro-rehab unit. She called to ask my advice on how to 'handle' a difficult situation with her assigned mentor. As it turns out, this 'mentor' was also the 'team leader'. She had reportedly been assigned this position because she was inefficient as a staff nurse, and she had been reported several times for patronizing several staff members. There had also been complaints filed by patient's family members about this particular nurse. I expressed my dismay that this vicious cycle still continues despite our profession's awareness of this problem. My niece had already approached the nurse manager about the problem, and the nurse manager rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. If the nursing profession is going to survive, this 'sweeping the problem under the rug' mentality must change. Isn't it ironic (and disheartening) that nurses who display these behaviors perpetually get promoted to a 'team leader' position? I suspect that the reason for this trend is to minimize the problem nurse's exposure to the public; however, this mode of thinking perpetuates the problem. Fellow staff members become her involuntary victims and a poisonous work environment develops. These marginal nurses are closed-minded and controlling. They treat the novice as a lower ranked object to be controlled, to lessen their own workload. The result is a 'let down' for both parties and a negative light is cast on the mentoring process. This predominant attitude defeats and destroys what mentoring in nursing is all about. I shared some ideas with my niece on how to assert herself in a positive manner and I encouraged her to call me whenever she needed to.

Both the mentor and the novice should share job involvement, career plans, and have an open attitude towards teaching and learning. They should share common goals and a mutual commitment to enable the mentor to help the protégé develop professionally. Most importantly, the 'right chemistry' must be present to maintain a long and successful relationship (Lee, 2000). One novice described her mentor as "if you have a weak spot, the mentor helps you though it; if you have a strong spot, he/she's there to praise you" (Shaffer, Tailarcia and Walsh, 2000, p.32). Almost a decade ago my current business partner Trisha and I met in the Coronary Intensive Care Unit at our local hospital. I had several years of critical care experience in various adult intensive care units. Trisha was a new graduate, and looking for a mentor to provide her with the tools she needed to be a respected member of our team. I was extremely excited to be chosen to teach someone with as much passion for education as I had. Just like a mentor and protégé, Trisha and I shared the same job involvement, career plans, and ambition. We were passionate about learning and evolving professionally and we shared this enthusiasm. Luckily, we realized the incredulous advantages that mentoring played in professional and personal development. This mentor-novice relationship has since evolved into the best friendship we have ever had.

Over the next decade, Trisha accumulated experience as a coronary and neonatal intensive care nurse, clinical instructor for university, and as an adult/pediatric staff educator. I had moved on from critical care and added the Emergency Room, Flight Nursing, and Paramedic Preceptor to my resume. As the years progressed, our relationship naturally evolved from mentor protégé to a more peer orientated relationship. Despite our different career paths, our goals and enthusiasm for nursing education remained the same. Trisha has become an advocate for new nurses and subsequently became a mentor as well. A positive mentoring experience results in a positive cascade of events. 'It only takes a spark to get a fire going' rings true when mentoring is involved in nursing.

Our frustrations started to grow as we missed what few seminars and learning opportunities that came through our area. We could not get the time off to attend, or we were refused funding. The demands on health care were growing and the budgets were shrinking. It was becoming normal to "eat on your feet" and to be called in for overtime everyday. How on earth could we keep up with the fast paced world of health care and the educational requirements? A new trend in healthcare facilities across the globe is that of experienced staff seeking out new positions and early retirement; leaving new graduates to 'fend for themselves'. As technology grows and standards of practice increase, institutional educators are not able to meet the demands of the shift working force. Veteran nurses are 'too busy' trying to complete their work, and our young work force is 'missing out' on their life time and experience. Trisha and I realized that mentoring had proven to be the most enriching experience of our nursing careers. We asked ourselves, "What can we do to address this?"

Trisha and I decided that we wanted to offer high quality and accessible education for everyone at anytime. But, we also wanted to provide a supportive environment as well. We wanted nurses to have a place to go to learn without intimidation, and feel 'mentored.' Trisha and I decided that a discussion forum, motivational stories and poetry corner were just as important as the courses that we had to offer. We wanted nurses all across the world to know that they are not alone.
This is where the idea for e- Mentorship for nurses came from. E mentorship allows nurses to share frustrations or concerns anonymously at any time day or night. It also removes the intimidation of asking questions and seeking advice. While I was working on my Masters in Nursing degree online, I discovered that my colleagues all across the country had experienced similar trials and tribulations in their nursing careers. I found great comfort when they offered support by sharing their personal stories as well. In these days of nursing shortages and increased patient acuity, it is a challenge just to get your work done. It is the 'norm' to miss meals and coffee breaks. This leaves little to no time at all for mentorship or even casual conversation to take place. I always felt like I was alone. My online colleagues all across the country, whom I had never met personally, stepped up to let me know that I was not alone.

Trisha and I decided that MedSenses would offer interactive learning and use a creative e-mentorship approach.

E mentorship gives nurses from all over the world, the opportunity to reach out and share their experiences and expertise. Nurses from all walks of life can sign on and ask for advice or counsel another without fear of intimidation anytime day or night. E mentoring has the potential to empower the nursing profession by creating a global community for nurses. With E mentoring, nurses can give themselves a gift, by giving the gift of self. Imagine what a force nursing could be if we could bond together and help each other out of that barrel of crabs!

By Lynn Casey RNBN/ Co-Founder MedSenses.com