He was also considered to be omniscient and credible. In the past, the roles of preceptor, role model, and coach have often been confused with mentoring. Individually, none of them satisfies the requirements of a modern mentor. Preceptors are usually formally assigned teachers who participate in structured, organizational programs. Role models have skills or qualities that are admired from a distance and emulated by others with minimal contact, little commitment, or sometimes even no knowledge of the relationship on the part of the role model.
Coaches occupy a middle ground between role models and mentors.
They attempt to modify others' actions through short-term instruction or guidance that can come from many sources and organizational levels concurrently. All in all, relationships with preceptors, role models, and coaches lack the freely given, intense, long- term commitment and direct interaction that characterize mentoring. Mentors may incorporate some behaviors from these three roles, but at the same time, they use their knowledge, experience, and status to develop a personal relationship that benefits their prot g through a mutually beneficial commitment. Contemporary mentorship in nursing springs from ongoing partnerships between seasoned professionals and less experienced individuals. Although mentors tend to be model professionals, most of all, they are senior partners to their prot g s in a relationship that is reciprocal in its nature, function, roles, and outcomes.