12-Month Mentor Program

As Finkelman (2006) stated, “Mentoring, and important career development to that can be used by nurses any type of set or specialty, can be used to develop the critical leadership skills needed by nurses. All successful leaders have had mentors are our mentors” (Finkelman,2006, p. 390).

Throughout this clinical semester, I have worked with several different registered nurses (RNs) and have been able to develop mentoring relationships with many of the staff on the unit. During our time together, I interviewed several of my nurse mentors and elicited information regarding their nursing experiences and the culture of the environment in which they work. The following conversations provide a summarization of my nurse mentors’ responses to the selected interview questions.

Peer mentoring is one of a range of peer support frameworks used in schools where students provide support to other students. Peer mentoring provides an alternative avenue of support by offering support from the peer group rather than adults. Research has shown that students respond well to peer mentors and feel a connection with someone that is closer to their age and more closely connected to the experience of high school. The mentors serve in a dichotomous role as older more experienced source of support that one can turn to for advice and guidance, while simultaneously serving as a friend and peer that one can relax and have fun with. This is a role that many times adult mentors cannot fulfill, which makes peer mentoring unique and sometimes

The cost to train new nurses becomes so enormous for hospitals it would be much smarter to figure out why new nurses are leaving and provide tools to assist new nurses with their transition. Looking at reasons NGRN leave their new chosen profession seems simple enough find out what it is that decreases job satisfaction and fix it. One study looked at burnout in new nurses and possible causes, they looked at workplace environment, workplace incivility and empowerment.(Spence Laschinger et al., 2009) They found

For this assignment I will address Morton- Cooper & Palmer (2005) enabling traits and discussed the core skill of a mentor. I will analyse and reflect on how I’ve utilised these skill with a third year student nurse in my practice area (cardiology) I will also reflect and evaluate my mentoring experience with my learner to see if there is any area of improvement or changes to be amended.

For many clinical experiences, the instructor assigns a nurse mentor to work with the student for that clinical experience. Some nurse mentors may have negative feelings about having to mentor students, may not take the time to explain things to students, or teach them how to do nursing care. The nurse mentor has the potential to positively or negatively affect the student’s learning experience based on their willingness to work with and teach nursing students.

There is high job availability for nurses due to shortages and retention, and that allows nurses the ease of moving from one position to another. Knowing that there is a shortage of nurses worldwide, retention of current nurses is essential to decreasing shortage. Job satisfaction and employee engagement are identified as high predictors of intent to leave (Collini, Guidroz, and Perez, 2015). Cowen and Moorhead (2011) bring forth that a positive work environment in which nurses are able to provide quality care, allowed the ability to have input on nursing care, and given opportunities to become valued nurse experts are needed for retention of experienced and new nurses. The aging population of nurses that currently practice is a concern that organizations may be facing in relation to retention. The average age of nurses currently working is about 47 years old, and as the nurses are aging the long hours of shift work may be more difficult which might have the older nurses looking for more flexible hours in a different work place (Cowen and Moorhead, 2011). Older nurses are also looking to retire and be finished in the workforce and this is contributing to decreased retention and creating more job openings. On the other side of the spectrum is a high incident of turnover among new registered nurse graduates. Lateral violence is identified as retention concern for many new graduate

MacLellan, Levett-Jones, & Higgins (2016) found that lack of support as one the challenges new NP’s reported which is when the senior NP’s knowingly withhold information that would have been helpful and or the refusal to guide the new NP when guidance is needed. Another was a power struggle between nurses, new NP’s and senior NP’s which creates a stressful environment for the new NP who is trying to survive. New NP’s are already coming into employment feeling insecure, anxious, and overwhelmed, so any unnecessary challenges by the senior NP’s or other healthcare providers only contribute to the factors that hinder a successful transition role. As an employee retention program, many companies, schools, and healthcare organizations have established a mentoring program, and the purpose of a mentor is to provide guidance and support to a mentee such as a new NP practitioner in order to reduce the uneasy feeling of entering a new chapter of personal, professional or academic life changes (Mijares, Baxley, & Bond,

Nursing school provides theoretical knowledge of basic nursing care concepts, but the limited exposure in the clinical practice setting makes transitioning into the role of the professional nurse very difficult for new graduate nurses (Ellis & Hartley, 2012). A study performed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, revealed many employers feel that newly licensed RNs are not fully prepared to perform common tasks in a basic practice setting, thus resulting in a 27.1% turnover rate for first year nurses (Dresher-Crumpley & McElroy, 2015)). The Journal of Nursing Administration (2008) revealed the average

The first goal is to "promote professional development through mentoring programs for career development, professional growth, increase of morale, and quality within my nursing career by the end of one year." The second goal is to "apply the principles of effective organization involving use of information, focus on patient care giving, and design clinical care giving in an organizational chart to achieve organizational planning and evaluation as all levels."

A review of the relevant research specific to the question of the effectiveness of mentorship programs was conducted (see evidence summary table, Appendix A). The bulk of the published studies evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of mentoring programs for newly registered nurses demonstrated the beneficial effects mentorship has on job satisfaction and retention rates (Edwards, Hawker, Carrier & Rees, 2015; Zhang et al., 2015).

Mentors now have to be aware of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, NHS leadership Qualities Framework, which gives mentors clear instructions about their responsibilities (Kinnell and Hughes 2010). However, meeting these requirements alone will not make a nurse a successful mentor. Mentors have to plan and provide appropriate opportunities for teaching and learning activities, with clinical experience to achieve learning outcomes and develop professional competencies (Choun and Suen 2001). This will enable them to assess students performance,

and Ringl MSN RN, Karen “Combating Workplace Violence with Peer Mentoring” Nursing Management (Sept 2013). In this article they talk about a 5 year study they conducted with two different hospitals. The participants had to volunteer for the program, mentors and mentees. They were made to take classes involving communication, professionalism, conflict, team building, financial challenges and decision making. Extra classes for the mentors also included feedback, relationship phases and completing the relationship phase. Though the participants in the study showed a better retention rate the study was conducted in two similar hospitals in the same area and needs to be extended to include all types of hospitals over a more vast area. The mentors and mentees were asked to keep a journal. The mentees and some mentors still thought they experienced some workplace intimidation and stress. I think these authors are reliable sources for this article because Ms. Latham and Ringl are nursing instructors at Fullerton Nursing School and Mr. Hogan is a professor of Anthropology and Human Services. The sources used were all current and medically centered. It is a current article, published in 2013. I am using this article to see if the idea of more education for mentors and mentees help with the problem of horizontal hostility towards new

Mentoring in nursing practice has been thought of as a beneficial way of increasing nursing knowledge for several decades (Stewart & Krueger, 1996, pg. 311). However, the concept of mentoring had not been defined or analyzed, which made researching its effectiveness useless. This concept analysis of mentoring in nursing practice shows that mentoring can be mutually beneficial for a mentor, protégé, and nursing practice. However, further research on this concept is necessary to determine the broader application to nursing as a scientific discipline.

We have learned that nursing theory defines nursing as a practice and is based on conceptual frameworks. For framework to be developed into theory one must start with a concept to provide a structure. A concept is a generalized idea that when placed in context will develop its meaning and application in addition to advancing the knowledge of a specific area (Meier, 2013). A concept analysis’s purpose is to examine the basic elements of a concept that are used for theory development and define its attributes (Meier, 2013). The aim of this concept analysis will be to gain a broader understanding about the concept mentoring and how it is linked to employee satisfaction and employee retention to novice nursing staff. In an article from the Oklahoma Nurse journal it is mentioned that mentor programs and mentorship allows for continued growth for novice staff (Davis and Maisano, 2016). Dr. Benner 's theory of Novice to Expert provides support that a novice to expert relationship occurs in a mentoring relationship; this relationship will lead to career satisfaction and intent to stay in nursing (Mariani, 2012). This mentoring concept analysis will follow an outline of concept definition with defining attributes in addition to a literature review to examine current themes, facts, and ideas about the concept. To provide addition clarity of mentoring, antecedents and consequences will be described. To measure the concept has occurred, empirical referents will be explored. To conclude,