Consider becoming a nursing student mentor

As nursing faculty, wherever your students are, I encourage you to think about how you can become a nursing mentor and inspire them towards a new goal. This goal could be nursing practice-related or nursing academic-related.

A nursing mentor's impact

When I returned to school to obtain my BSN, I considered that to be my “terminal degree”. I had no further aspirations and with a growing family, I had no time, or so I thought, for another degree. I was not “settling” for a BSN, I was being realistic in my own abilities and vision of what I could offer the profession.

That was true until I completed my capstone project under the direction of a very invested nursing faculty mentor. She encouraged me to consider graduate school, specifically to become a nurse educator. Why not I thought, if I could successfully complete a 100-page capstone, I could complete a thesis. So, I did!

Again, nearing the end of my master’s program, I found myself in the very capable hands of yet another great nursing faculty mentor who motivated me to keep going for “the” terminal degree of Ph.D. If I could successfully complete a few hundred-page theses, I could complete a several-hundred-page dissertation. So, I did!

Florence Nightingale understood that health policy was key to improving the health of poor Londoners and the British military. Today nurses are needed more than ever to create persuasive cases and influence better health policies at every level of governance. Recent events have forced a focus on transforming health care in innovative ways that provide for better outcomes while reducing health care costs. Nursing has an extraordinary opportunity to provide proactive and visionary leadership.

Words of wisdom for your nursing students

These are several of my favorite “bursts of encouragement and knowledge” that I share with students over the course of their education journey. I will share these as part of unit overviews, as part of email signatures, or on the closing slide of a presentation. More often than not, it sparks conversations and planning future goals.

• “The undertaking of a new action brings new strength.” – Richard L. Evans
• “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” – Alan Turning
• “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson
• “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” – Marie Curie
• “The invisible world is always where the visible originates.” - Dr. Henry Cloud
• “The reality of the life we see and live on the outside is one that emerges from the inside, from our hearts, minds, and souls. It is our internal life that creates our external one. So, to find our lives we must find what lies below the surface of our skin. We must look at, listen to, discover, and be mindful of our internal life — of such things as our talents, feelings, desires, and dreams.” – Dr. Henry Cloud
• “Nursing is not a profession of mediocrity” – Pam Embler

You can never ever underestimate the impact of each and every opportunity we faculty have upon our students. Think about how you can become a nursing student mentor, the importance of that role, and the wisdom and advice you’d impart.