Assessment of Mentorship Factors Influencing Clinical Competences of Diploma Nursing Students at coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, Mombasa

Abstract

Nurses work in various health care settings and represent the universal entry access for roughly 90% of healthcare users hence effective graduation of qualified nurses with necessary abilities is a paramount function in the nursing education training (Bvumbwe & Mtshali, 2018). According to Cooley and De Gagne (2016), there is a global scarcity of qualified experienced nurses forcing healthcare administrators to employ recently graduating nurses to fill the gap. Over the last decade, several concerns have arisen concerning newly qualified nurses’ clinical competences and suitability for practice after completing their training. Missen et al. (2016) argue that even at the end of their training, nursing students lack clinical competences and are unable to attain the maximum degree of clinical competence required of them and blame this on the theory practice gap. Training initiatives should prioritize the acquisition of competences through mentorship. In South Africa Mentoring in practical placements is not yet codified as there are no regulatory norms to act as a guide for mentors (Mhlaba, 2011). In Kenya, the student lecturer ratio is beyond the expected limit (MOH, 2012). When student mentorship is lacking or inadequate, institutions risk generating half-baked graduates who may not be able to perform nursing procedures adequately and attend to patients appropriately due to a lack of essential competences required for all practicing nurses. This study sought to assess mentorship factors influencing Clinical Competences of Nursing students at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, Mombasa. The study had four objectives and adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey. The study population was ninety-five (95) basic diploma students in their 3rd year at KMTC Mombasa. The sample size formula of Yamane, (1967) was employed to arrive at a sample size of 77 students. The researcher collected data by use of online google form questionnaires. The statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 25 was used to conduct the analysis for quantitative data. Inferential data analysis was run using Pearson correlation coefficients. The statistical significance was set at P= 95% (0.05). The students perceived themselves as competent and had acquired average to moderate level competence in communication skills, decision making, teamwork, performance of nursing skills / procedures, problem solving skills and self-confidence [r=0.406, p<0.05]. The mentor’s modeling style helped students integrate the knowledge learnt into practice and had a positive correlation coefficient of [r=0.703, p<0.05]. Findings on mentor-mentee relationship showed that there were poor interpersonal relationships among mentors and mentee [r= 0.956, (p<0.05]. This led to inadequate mentoring and thus poor acquisition of clinical competences. Findings on Institutional factors showed [r= 0.451, (p<0.05]. There was no intentional matching of mentees to mentors and the high number of students per mentor hindered proper development of expected skills, knowledge, and competences as it was difficult to assist them all. The results of this study confirmed that the independent variables (mentor, institutional, and mentor- mentee relationship factors) had a strong statistically significant relationship (p<0.05) on the dependent variable clinical competences. This study therefore

recommends the hospital to improve the mentoring environment, by resolving the mentor- mentee relationship challenges. Both institutions to come up with a policy and implement

a formal structured mentorship program so that there is a precedent standard that can be followed to have a mentoring action plan where students are intentionally matched to mentors depending on the placement.