Critical care nurses' competence in mentoring students in intensive care units—A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Mentors play an important role in the practical education of critical care nursing students in intensive care units, yet little is known about the mentoring competencies of critical care nurses.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess Norwegian critical care nurses' competence in mentoring students in intensive care units.

Design: This study has a descriptive, cross-sectional design, utilising a self-administered online survey.

Settings: The study population consisted of critical care nurses who mentor students in Norwegian intensive care units.

Participants: 178 critical care nurses participated in the study. The participants were recruited by contacting the units directly, through social media, and at a national critical care nursing conference.

Methods: The study utilised the Mentors' Competence Instrument, a self-evaluation tool for evaluating mentoring competence.

Results: The Norwegian critical care nurses generally evaluated their mentoring competence as middle to high level. The “reflection during mentoring” dimension was rated as the highest and “student-centered evaluation” as the lowest competence dimension. The critical care nurses who had formal mentoring education reported significantly higher mentoring competences, but the other demographic characteristics were not related to mentoring competence. Regardless of previous mentoring education, most participants reported a need to further develop their mentoring competencies.

Conclusions: Employers should collaborate with educational institutions to establish a system for continuous competence development for critical care nurse mentors.