Assessment of Mentorship Applications in Nursing Clinical Education

Background: Mentorship practice is indispensable due to various problems in nursing education and having an effective mentorship program is key to the nursing students' successful learning. Aim: To explore mentorship applications in undergraduate nursing programs in Turkey. Methods: The study was a descriptive and comparative study. The sample targeted 124 nursing schools, and 71 schools' managers replied (57.2%). The questionnaire comprised of 10 questions regarding mentorship applications. Participants were invited to complete the survey by email between December 2017 and June 2018. Results: Formal mentorship education was not given in 52.2 % of the schools. The duration of the education ranges from 2 hours up to 19 hours, and the content of the school's mentorship programs were found to be changeable. Also, most of the schools (65.2%) have selection criteria for being a mentor. In addition, 76.1 % mentors work with five or more than five students, and the duration of mentorship practice usage in governmental schools was found significantly higher than that in foundation schools (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Mentorship systems currently in use are not effective. Thus, it is necessary to increase the collaboration between hospitals and schools and to determine mentorship standards at the national level.