Mentor Me

I’m going to be honest with you. I did not have the best mentoring experience when I started out as a nurse. I was assign a preceptor when I started that was to be a mentor. Or at least I hoped my nurse preceptor would be a lifelong nurse mentor. But, it didn’t happen that way. I’m not sure why my precepting/mentoring experience wasn’t what it should’ve been. I wish I had a voice back then to talk with my nurse manager and ask if I could cut ties with my preceptor and find another.

Anyway, I say this to let you know that your preceptor/mentor may not be the best preceptor/mentor. If that’s the case, find another mentor. There are experienced nurses on the floor who love to teach and mentor. Find that person. Find that person that your personalities mesh well together.

I’m reminded of that old adage that “nurses eat their young.” I hate that saying. I’ve experienced it first hand and I hated feeling like I didn’t matter. Just because I was young or new or both, didn’t mean that I wasn’t empathetic or willing to learn. We all know that you, as a new nurse, don’t know anything. And that’s ok!

Find your people. Find your experienced nurses that are wanting to see you grow as a nurse and as a person. I really think having that good mentor will make the difference between a nurse staying in nursing until he or she retires and the nurse who has left nursing after 2 years to do something else.

If in 5-10 years, you find yourself in that mentoring position…be kind. Remember you were the new kid on the block. Remember we are all in this together. We have enough stress put on us by our administration, co-workers, hospital guidelines, and our patients. As nurses, we don’t need to be another contributing to our stress.

Let’s continue to make our nurse community strong!