HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
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View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
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View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
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View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreBy Traci Hanlon MN, RN, Consultant at Creative Healthcare Management
With the increasing complexity of the healthcare environment, increased amount of technical knowledge required to practice, shorter lengths of stay, and increased acuity of patient populations, nurses are faced with a phenomenon that has been dubbed by research from the University of Minnesota as “complexity compression.” Complexity compression over time has been linked to clinician’s experiencing compassion fatigue, burnout, and decreased ability to think critically, which has a direct correlation to poor clinical outcomes.
Preceptors help bridge the theory-to-practice gap for new graduate nurses and act as a buffer between the new graduate and the phenomenon of complexity compression. This buffering serves preceptees by allowing them to build confidence, build on the knowledge they gained in school, and to apply this knowledge at the point of care where there are many competing priorities and interruptions to their routine and thinking.
As described in Benner’s Novice to Expert Model, nurses do not usually reach the competent level until after the second year. It is between the first and second year, when new graduates are on their own, that they experience difficulty in managing complexity compression. Add to that the relational skills that the new nurse has to navigate, such as seeking clarification and sometimes questioning physicians, or speaking up when something does not seem right but not knowing exactly what the issue may be, and you have the perfect storm for a nurse to lose confidence in his or her ability to perform. Nurses at this juncture are also trying to navigate the unique social norms of their unit, and this can be a risky venture. If they ask too many questions, or ask the wrong question of the wrong peer, new nurses may fear that their competence might be questioned. This is a critical time in a clinician’s development. This is the time when a mentor can make all the difference.
Mentoring vs. Precepting Relationships
Mentoring relationships differ from precepting relationships in that precepting is a time limited relationship that is evaluative in nature. The preceptor is a guide, teacher, and coach, but at the end of the day the preceptor determines if a new graduate is a good fit for the unit and has influence over the employment status of the new nurse.
Mentors provide a different kind of guidance. Mentoring relationships are not defined by time and are not evaluative in nature. Mentoring is a reciprocal relationship in which the mentor and mentee engage in a collaborative process to define goals, actions, and behaviors that will ultimately help the new nurse be successful. Mentees can confide in their mentors, ask questions they would not feel comfortable asking their peers, and seek advice in matters that deal with difficult relationships with peers or supervisors. Mentors provide stability, guidance, and experience to help the nurses navigate the complexity of their environments.
Mentors also provide an infrastructure and roadmap to professional development of the new nurse. In Part II of this blog, I will define the three top priorities of a successful mentor/mentee relationship.
Traci Hanlon MN, RN is a consultant with Creative Healthcare Management and specializes in preceptor, nursing orientation, and transition to practice program development.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsComprehensive, industry-leading provider onboarding and credentialing software that validate health outcomes and support provider assessment.
View All CredentialingOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
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