Mentor

The term mentor is defined in mainstream dictionaries as being a friend, a person that provides help and advice, someone that may be associated with but not limited to the school or the workplace (Mentor definition and meaning | Cambridge Dictionary, 2018; Mentor definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary, 2018). Definitions of a number of the mainstream uses of the term mentor are provided in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1. Definition of a Mentor

Source Definition

Collins English Dictionary.

“A person's mentor is someone who gives them help and advice over a period of time, especially help and advice related to their job.”

“a wise or trusted adviser or guide”

“a wise, loyal advisor”

“a teacher or coach” (Mentor definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary, 2018)

Cambridge Dictionary

“a person who gives a younger or less experienced person help and advice over a period of time, especially at work or school” (Mentor definition and meaning | Cambridge Dictionary, 2018)

75 A high degree of variation in the interpretation of the term mentor was evident

amongst participants in this study, varying from those who saw the mentor as a supportive peer through to those who saw the mentor as a senior member of the establishment who has a teaching role. For example, to some participants a mentor was a peer that you could turn to when advice or support is needed following challenging clinical experiences, as Terry explained:

A mentor doesn’t in my view… have to be the person you’re working with for the next 4 weeks. Because I have mentors in my life that I go to with questions and I think that’s more the mentoring role. You can come to me at any time with any question and I’ll help you as best I can but I don’t have to work with you [on shift] to get you there. But if you have a bad… [shift] and you catch up with me on the next block and you just want to sit down and talk about it, well then I’m here for that. (Terry)

Other participants reinforced Terry’s implication that mentors are more of a personal choice, rather than someone allocated as part of a workplace role. Darren’s comment encapsulated the concepts emerging within the data:

…I see a mentor still as a very personal thing and a professional one is someone who you actually respect enough to ask them to be a mentor, or… you don’t need to ask them but see their behaviour and model it. (Darren)

The data further supports this perception of a mentor being someone chosen by the individual, where the term mentor is linked with the function of a guide, or someone who aids in workplace socialisation. Participants referred to mentors being a guide in a

76 range of contexts; guide to new staff members; guide to professional practice; guide while navigating the pitfalls of the profession; guide to learning, as Julie explained:

Well, a mentor, for me, is someone who is a guide… and, that's a guide to many things, from professional practice to their journey to learning. (Julie)

Mentors were commonly referred to as fulfilling an informal function not associated with day-to-day clinical practice, instead relating to both work and personal or professional matters. This informal function was suggested by Brian’s reference to mentors being role models and having a peer support role:

[A]… mentor is really along the lines of somebody that provides a role model and more of a peer supporter as they [the learner] progress through their period of time in a workplace. (Brian)

Mentors were described as often being chosen by the individual based on criteria such as experience, respect and perceived quality of practice. This informal view of the term mentor is contrary to a common use of the term in the profession, where it is used to refer to the paramedic who is appointed to work with learners in a formal capacity. Darren outlined the decision making process he follows when identifying a mentor:

…my feeling about that word [mentor] is that it’s a personal choice so I as a student will make a personal choice ‘I like how, you know, this person operates. I’ll start to ask him about cases and jobs and, you know, how to do this and all of that sort of thing’ (Darren)

Four participants referred to mentors as specifically having a teaching role, and of these one referred to teaching as an informal role, highlighting the fact that teaching is not perceived as key part of the role of the mentor.

77 In answering the question described in Section 5.2 above regarding their understanding of the four terms, a number of participants could not separate the term mentor from preceptor; Richard’s comments below highlight the variation that exists in the industry associated with these terms:

So, precepting is about mentoring, is about being encouraging, is about being connected with people. It's about guiding and being that coach -- facilitator. It's all those things. Similar to a mentor (Richard)