Community, Mentoring and Passion for Nursing: Q&A with Nurse Alice

Nurse mentors give aspiring nurses the chance to achieve invaluable knowledge from more experienced peers.

Mentoring also builds community, promotes skilled development and strengthens resilience.

And “Nurse Alice” Benjamin, MSN, ACNS-BC, FNP-C, Principal Nursing Consultant at Nurse.com, is the right person to share the numerous advantages of nurse mentoring.

“A culture of collaboration in nursing not only supports individual nurses in realizing their potential, but also drives the collective development of the profession,” she said. “That kind of energy is contagious. When we grow as nurses individually and surround ourselves with other nurses who do it together, we can accomplish many things.”

Nurse Alice has over 25 years of experience in heart problems, intensive care and emergency medicine. In addition to her work for Nurse.com, she is a family nurse, clinical nurse specialist, television medical correspondent, host of the Ask Nurse Alice podcast, and founder AskNurseAlice.com.

In a recent video interview with Nurse.com, she shared her insights on how mentorship and community can change the lives of many nurses.

Below are some excerpts. Watch the complete video .

Q: How has mentoring contributed to your skilled development?

Nursing mentoring has definitely played a crucial role in my profession, my journey, and my continued practice as a nurse.

There are so many challenges and obstacles in nursing that we simply cannot predict and that challenge us each professionally and personally – not only in direct patient care, but additionally within the work environment itself. Fortunately, mentorship played a vital role in coping with all this.

I still have a mentor. My mentors helped me navigate the complexities of healthcare – and that is an understatement.

Let me just say that having a mentor helped me feel supported and like I belonged in nursing, especially in those moments once I asked myself, “Is this for me?”