USF College of Nursing partners with local hospital to create mentorship program for students

University of South Florida College of Nursing recently partnered with BayCare Health System, Inc. to create an Ambassador Mentorship Program for USF Nursing students who are working at Morton Plant Mease (MPM) hospital. The MPM hospital is owned and operated by BayCare Health System, Inc.

The program is designed to give student-employees guidance and support during their academic journey at USF College of Nursing. Director of Development and Practice for MPM Hospitals, Jackie Munro, PhD, ARNP, NE-BC, said that MPM will develop a well trained Staff Development mentoring team and match them with student-employees.

“A mentor, who is a MPM registered nurse (RN) and USF alum, will listen, share stories and experiences with mentees,” Dr. Munro said. “Mentees, who are current MPM RNs enrolled in the undergraduate nursing program at USF, will hopefully learn lessons, gain knowledge, and feel like they’re not alone. Our hope is that through this mentorship program, the mentees will develop additional skills, knowledge and confidence to be successful at work, school and personal life.”

During this mentorship program, the mentors and mentees will meet twice a month for 30 minutes in person or by phone. The program began in Jan. 2014, and will continue for 16 weeks until the end of Spring 2014 semester.

“USF College of Nursing is proud to work with MPM to create a program for our students that will help ease their academic journey,” said USF Nursing’s Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, Edwin Hernandez. “We can’t thank Dr. Munro and the entire team at MPM enough for their time and efforts to make the Ambassador Mentorship Program happen.”

Through this program, USF College of Nursing and MPM are hoping to lessen the burden of the nursing students who work and attend school. The goal is to also help increase the number of RNs with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

USF Nursing and BayCare have been partners for decades. BayCare hospitals are part of the College’s Clinical Collaborative, which helps facilitate practice collaboration among health care facilities in the Tampa Bay area and provide clinical training preparation of undergraduate nursing students. This program has helped make a large impact on the healthcare of the Tampa Bay community.

“We are grateful for our Clinical Collaborative Partnership with USF College of Nursing,” said Dr. Munro. “Being partners with USF Nursing, has given the hospital community the ability to contribute to the innovation of new programs and problem-solve issues we face in our community.”

For related stories about USF College of Nursing’s clinical partners click here.