Nursing is defined as a profession that focuses on assisting individuals, families, and communities in attaining, maintaining, and recovering optimal health and functioning. The more modern definitions of nursing describe it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as identified by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life.

The start of the journey

There are five stages of Patricia Brenner's "Novice to Expert" model. These include:

Novice: Little experience; requires rules and broad guidelines to organize.

Advanced beginner: Focuses on the immediate present; relies on protocols and forecasting is limited by experience.

Competent: Nurse in same or similar job for one to two years; views actions in terms of long-range goals or plans of which she or he is consciously aware.

Proficient: Perceives situations as whole rather than separate parts; sees the global picture.

Expert: Responds to the particular situation; focuses on salient issues; operates from a deep understanding of the total situation.

Regardless of your current status, you likely can identify points in your career where you were a "novice" in some respect and recall how—with the assistance, support, and foresight of some great mentors—you were able to aspire to be an "expert" nurse.

My professional nursing journey

Twenty-four years ago, I began my career as a staff nurse on the oncology inpatient unit. In 1989, I went back to school for my master's degree as an oncology clinical nurse specialist. After nine years in that role, I attained my post-master's certificate as an oncology nurse practitioner.

My progression from "novice to expert" would not have been possible if I did not have nursing mentors throughout my journey. They saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself, and they encouraged and supported my professional growth.

Guiding future journeys

Mentorship has been recognized as a catalyst to improve nurse recruitment and retention and reinforcement of evidence-based practice. Research shows that 83% of influential nurses in the United States have been mentored.

If we look at our personal nursing journeys, each and every one of us will be able to recognize that person or persons who made a difference in our professional lives. Let us take time to thank them for their support and for believing in us. And, like them, let us lead by example. For we, too, are mentors to the next generations of nurses to come.

VANNA DEST is a member of the RN editorial board and an oncology nurse practitioner at the Hospital of St. Raphael, New Haven, CT.