Mentoring student nurses in Uganda: A phenomenological study of mentors' perceptions of their own knowledge and skills

This paper will report on the findings of a qualitative research study exploring mentorship in a rural hospital in Uganda. It explored how mentors perceived their roles and their own knowledge and skills in mentoring nurse students. Participants were confident in their ability to teach clinical skills, but they identified gaps in relation to the application of theory to these skills and they the need to update their own knowledge and to act more on their own initiative. The paper reports on the nature of the relationship between mentor and students, the teaching approaches used and the challenges of the role. Recommendations are proposed to develop a bespoke Ugandan curriculum to prepare mentors for their role, and to provide additional support, to enhance students' experiences of learning in this context. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.