Book Review
Mentoring and preceptorship: a guide to support roles in clinical practice
Alison Morton-Cooper and Anne Palmer
ISBN: 978-0632035960; 1993; 192 pages; Blackwell Science Inc;
Caroline M Wright
University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury NSW
This book is about the different types of support roles available to nurses working in the clinical area. The aim of the book does not emerge until page 24 where it is stated that the authors intend to explore the possibilities of greater use of support roles, in particular, those of mentorship and preceptorship. The authors describe these roles as helping, supportive and developmental in focus. This is similar to the definition used by Australian writers (for example Wright 1992). Furthermore, these supportive roles are described by the authors in a more collegial atmosphere within a bureaucratic system.
Unfortunately the book is specifically written for nurses in England where the support roles are dictated by the English National Board and the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting. This has added to conceptual confusion between the terms, particularly between mentorship and preceptorship. In the English system, the term mentor is used for the supervision and assessment of nursing students while undertaking clinical placement in hospitals (see for example Armitage & Burnard 1991) and preceptorship for entry into practice on graduation. This is in contrast to research experiences in the United States of America and Australia.
In effect, the authors provide a challenge for the English National Board to use the term 'coach-facilitator' for the role of supervisor and assessor which is currently termed 'mentor' in the English nursing context.
References
References Armitage P, Burnard P 1991 Mentors or preceptors? Narrowing the theorypractice gap. Nurse Education Today 11:225-229 Wright C M 1992 The Development and testing of a conceptual model for the analysis of contemporary developmental relationships in nursing. PhD dissertation, School of Nursing, University of Wollongong
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