Academic mentoring opportunities.

Many academic mentoring opportunities are available to neuroscience nurses when they interact with undergraduate students, or members of minorities or when they are serving as faculty. Opportunities with undergraduate students originate in an awareness of student perceptions. During rotations on neuroscience units, students may consciously or unconsciously be seeking a mentor-someone to emulate, a contact person, someone to have a chat with, a teacher, a guide, and an assessor or supervisor. Nurses who serve as formal or informal clinical instructors should recognize that students respond to mentors who project poise, verbal and nonverbal strength, and optimism. Mentoring is an important strategy neuroscience nurses should embrace to enhance, develop, and encourage members of minority groups to enter the nursing workforce. Interested applicants can be directed toward specific programs such as the LEAD project or project IMPART. Neuroscience nurses who serve as nursing faculty should be aware that when they mentor new faculty they should be available, have regular meetings to discuss questions, help the protégé learn to prevent and handle problems and prepare for first-time experiences, and help with implementation of teaching responsibilities. If a formal mentoring program is not in place, recommendations are available for establishing one.