Crecious Mutinta Muleya^1*, Jayne Marshall², Cathy Ashwin³

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¹ Department of Nursing Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
² Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education (HSCE), St Georges, University of London/Kingston University, Cranmer Terrace, London, UK.
³ MIDIRS, University of Nottingham, Bristol, UK.
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Abstract: Background: Mentorship has been the model adopted by many countries to support learning and assessment of students in the clinical placement. It has remained uncertain whether or not it has a lot of positive benefits for the students’ experiences during placement as there have been divided opinions among researchers. Objective and review question: The objective of this qualitative systematic review was to explore the perceptions and experiences of nursing and midwifery students regarding mentorship during clinical placement. The question of the review was: what are the perceptions and experiences of nursing and midwifery students regarding mentorship during clinical placement. Methods and materials: Electronic data bases, journals and grey literature were searched for relevant studies and seven qualitative studies were systematically included in the review. The Joanna Briggs Institute-Qualitative Assessment and Review instrument (JBI-QARI) was used to critically appraise the studies. Data extraction was done using the JBI-QARI Data Extraction Tool. A thematic analysis was used to synthesise the findings. Findings: The findings suggest that there are still gaps within the mentorship programme that could have an impact on the students’ learning experiences during clinical placement. From the themes identified which include: need for feedback, hands on practice, continuity of mentorship and mentor-mentee relationship, the reviewers concluded that such areas of mentorship require attention in order to benefit the students. Conclusions: It can therefore be concluded that there are many lessons to be learnt in order to continue improving mentorship. It is also clear that mentorship will be beneficial to students if a good relationship is established between the mentor and mentee, as this is the beginning of the experience. All staff members should be willing to support students in learning for them to develop the knowledge, skill and attitudes that are necessary to their learning.

Keywords: Mentorship, Preceptorship, Clinical Supervision, Experience, Perception, Systematic Review

Cite this paper: Muleya, C. , Marshall, J. and Ashwin, C. (2015) Nursing and Midwifery Students’ Perception and Experiences of Mentorship: A Systematic Review. Open Journal of Nursing, 5, 571-586. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2015.56061.

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