Nurses marked International Nurses Day tomorrow with a celebration yesterday afternoon. Known as ''preceptors'', nurse mentors work with new graduates, undergraduates and nurses who arrive at the hospital from elsewhere.
Nursing entry to practice programme co-ordinator Jo Mitchell told the nurses she felt proud to work for the organisation when she read comments from nurses about their mentors. Good mentors had energy, passion, knowledge, empathy and humour - all necessary tools for helping new nurses adapt to the workplace, she said.
An internal medicine nurse told the group she was initially reluctant to be a mentor, joking she had signed up for the ''mercenary'' purpose of obtaining a profession credit.
She surprised herself by how much she enjoyed both the mentoring and relationships she formed outside her ward through involvement in the programme.
