Welcome to module five of Nursing Informatics Training and Education: Best Practices for Mentors and Coaches. In this module, we will examine another key leadership skill for Nursing Informatics leaders involved in training and education, the mentor skill within the collaborative culture. When leading informatics training and education, we gain perspective about competencies that are needed and opportunities to employ new informatics skills. This perspective together with our training and life experiences, positions us to become mentors and coaches to other nursing informaticians. Mentoring is one of the many rewards of a nursing informatics leadership career. Our objectives are; to describe similarities between mentoring and coaching. To discern and clarify what is needed by a given informatician and context. To analyze best practices in mentoring and relationships to gain appreciation for the mentoring needs of new nursing informaticians. To describe formal nursing informatics mentoring opportunities locally, nationally, and globally to understand ways to participate in mentoring as a mentor or a mentee. As nursing informatics leaders, we build on an amazing legacy of collaboration leadership culture in which we have been mentored and coached and have become mentors and coaches. Mentoring and coaching is essential for building the networks that will advance our specialty and we are the ones who will carry this proud tradition forward. Mentoring benefits for mentees include increased professional satisfaction and career progress, mentors report personal satisfaction, "We're feeling rejuvenated and learning about new challenges and trends in the field." Mentors and coaches are defined as follows; a mentor is an individual with expertise who can help develop the career of a mentee. Mentors provide professional advice, role modeling, and support. Such a mentoring relationship may be formal or informal. In contrast, a coach supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. Coaches differ from mentors in that they focus on specific tasks or objectives versus overall career development. Thus, we may benefit from having mentors and coaches at the same time to support our development in different ways. According to several sources, there are simple best practices for mentors that optimize the mentoring relationship and its outcomes. To establish and maintain a positive mentoring relationship, be considerate and respectful, listen, draw out and encourage your mentee, help make connections, provide opportunities, and advise and support as needed. Mentors and mentees maintain positive somewhat personal relationships. Mentoring boundaries are often more flexible than typical professional boundaries. Consider your mentor skills which are within the collaborative culture. What other skills might be useful as you embark upon a mentoring relationship? What skills will you deepen in order to optimize your mentoring experience? These professional informatics organizations provide formal mentoring programs for nursing informaticians. The AMIA Mentor Matches for any AMIA member. While the women in AMIA initiative provides connections and networking to support female informaticians within the organization. The American Nurses Association has established a mentoring program that pairs new nurses with experienced nurse mentors. The Alliance for Nursing Informatics together with HIMs, sponsors a mentoring program in which a new class of applicants is considered every year. The American Nursing Informatics Association, provides a forum in which nurses can reach out to connect with receptors and other mentors. Informal mentoring is also widely available in online networking platforms. What mentoring opportunities would you add to this list? Informal mentoring relationships can be initiated by mentor or a mentee and have much the same attributes as formal mentoring programs. Our mentoring relationships formal and informal, will increase collaboration and promote and advance the nursing informatics specialty. Mentoring is a legacy of our nursing informatics pioneers, and our mandate from nursing informatics leaders of today. Who will your new mentee or mentor be? Now, in our discussion for this module, describe a mentoring relationship that you appreciated. What was helpful? What would you change? How will you incorporate your leadership skills as you mentor other infomaticians? How will you incorporate mentoring into your nursing informatics training and education experience? Then, complete the required readings and take the quiz to test your new knowledge. When you finish the quiz, it's time to move on to course five, Leadership in Interprofessional Informatics.
