Mentoring medical students as a means to increase healthcare assistant status: A qualitative study

ConclusionThe mentoring of medical students gave HCAs an active voice within the interprofessional team, instilling their confidence and self-worth. Mentoring allowed HCAs to move from a homogenous, group-based social identity to a role-based one that enabled HCAs to reveal the true extent of their work whilst negotiating their place and identity within the interprofessional team.ImpactLeaders in healthcare will see that a re-evaluation of HCAs as performers of basic, hands-on patient care is needed to breakdown ingrained beliefs, eliminating a ‘us and them’ mentality. Involving HCAs in the mentoring of medical students will impact on the personal development of both HCAs and medical students in the cultivation of a future, person-centred, inclusive and collaborative workforce.Reporting MethodCOREQ guidelines to enhance methodological rigour were strictly adhered to.Patient and Public InvolvementThere is no patient or public involvement.
Source: Nursing Open - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUALITATIVE Source Type: research