Mentoring in nursing is important for several reasons:
1. Career Development: Mentoring provides nursing students or novice nurses with guidance and support from more experienced nurses. This guidance can help them develop their skills, expand their knowledge, and gain insight into the profession.
2. Personal Growth: Mentoring helps nurses identify their strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and improve their self-confidence. It can also provide emotional support during difficult times.
3. Knowledge Transfer: Mentors can share their knowledge and experience with their mentees, helping them understand the complexities of the healthcare system and how to provide quality patient care.
4. Retention: Mentoring can help reduce nurse turnover by creating a positive work environment, increasing job satisfaction, and improving career advancement opportunities.
5. Leadership Development: Mentoring can help develop leadership skills in nurses, preparing them for management positions and enhancing their ability to lead and inspire others.
Overall, mentoring in nursing is crucial for the development of nurses and the advancement of the nursing profession. It provides a supportive environment for personal and professional growth, knowledge transfer, and leadership development.
Australian Health Journal met with two nurses both working in Queensland, one the mentor, the other, the mentee. Both get to appreciate the experiences mentorship gives them.
Belynda Abbott FICDA FACN is a Clinical Nurse Consultant who at the time of the interview worked in Metro South Health within the Neurosciences care field. Today she works as the Nursing Director at Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service and is the Queensland State Chair for the Australian College of Nursing (ACN).
In her 20 year career, Belynda has worked as a nurse educator, a clinical nurse consultant, and nurse unit manager, and also assisted in the Health Emergency Operation Response for COVID. She has a breadth of knowledge and skill, with an attitude to be willing and wanting to stretch herself as a nurse.
Bronwyn Hausler is a perioperative nurse based on the Gold Coast. Following the interview recording, Bronwyn qualified as a registered nurse (RN) at the end of 2022 and now works at Queensland Children’s Hospital. She began nursing as an enrolled nurse after having children. In 2022, she was recognised as an Emerging Nurse Leader in a program run by the Australian College of Nursing, a role that has helped her build on skills to fulfil the vision and goal of leadership type roles.
Both Bronwyn and Belynda talk about the steps and mindset needed to reach out to a possible mentor. Both talk about the enriching experience of being and mentor and mentee.
Belynda has helped Bronwyn on her journey as as nurse, as well as develop as a leader herself, and adds, “When Bronnie has a concern or a question, I actually throw it back on her. So that I don’t actually give her the answers, because she has the answers herself.”
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Landmark brain shape study
For over a century, researchers have thought that the patterns of brain activity that define our experiences, hopes and dreams are determined by how different brain regions communicate with each other through a complex web of trillions of cellular connections.
Now, a Monash University Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health-led study has examined more than 10,000 different maps of human brain activity and found that the overall shape of a person’s brain exerts a far greater influence on how we think, feel and behave than its intricate neuronal connectivity.
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Budget22 A mixed dose of health outcomes
Australian Health Journal met with a number of industry heads after the budget on their journeys so far in lobbying for change, their achievements, some of the disappointments and their thoughts on the road ahead, with an election round the corner.
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Strong primary care nursing solutions for a healthier Australia
The CEO of Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA), Ken Griffin spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:
– APNA President Karen Booth representing Primary Care Nursing in the Australian Government led Strengthening Medicare Task Force
– The current key challenges in primary care nursing
– Programs on diversity and student placement proposed in APNA’s pre-budget submission to Federal Government
– A proposed initiative called Nurse-Supported Self-Care, with broadening role primary care nursing would play in the community
– Hopes for other health priorities addressed in the Federal BudgetIn the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
