Implementation of a Mentor Program to Support Nurse Retention: A Pilot Project

Problem: Nurse retention is vital in healthcare settings for providing safe patient care. Primary factors affecting nurses’ decisions to stay at an organization include nurse self-concept, job satisfaction, and professional growth. A high turnover rate of nurses poses a risk to patients’ safety and healthcare outcomes. The implementation of mentor programs in institutions that employ new nurses has been shown to reduce turnover rates, increase the quality of patient care, and empower nurses in professional development. The existing literature supports the use of mentor programs and encourages their implementation in healthcare institutions. Context: The project lead planned, implemented, and evaluated a pilot nurse mentor program in the pediatric, neonatal intensive care, and acute care units. After project planning, mentor recruitment occurred, followed by project implementation in March 2019 and final evaluation in September 2019. Data analysis and dissemination of data will occur in December 2019. Interventions: The aim of the DNP project was to create, implement, and evaluate a nurse mentor program. The project’s goal was to identify effective methods of promoting positive nurse self-concept and increasing job satisfaction and confidence in providing safe care to patients, with the objective of increasing nurse retention through a mentor program. Measures: Mentors and mentees were asked to participate in a preand post-intervention assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. The assessments collected data on nurses’ self-concept, perceived job satisfaction, intent to stay working at their organization, and confidence in providing safe care to patients. Results: The common theme identified in the participants’ responses was a dedication and desire to care for and help others. These desires promoted positive nurse self-concept, increased job satisfaction, increased confidence in providing patient care, and increased intent to stay. MENTOR PROGRAM TO SUPPORT NURSE RETENTION 8 Conclusions: Organizational attention to nurse job satisfaction and retention rates is crucial to reduce nurse turnover in specialty areas. Quick solutions are not sufficient to address high turnover and low job satisfaction, both of which impinge on providing safe patient care. An investment must be made to truly support nurses, not only in their first years but throughout their entire careers. A mentor program is only one element of the necessary support. MENTOR PROGRAM TO SUPPORT NURSE RETENTION 9 Section II: Introduction Nurse retention is vital to ensure that healthcare organizations have a sufficient number of nurses who are confident and knowledgeable in providing safe patient care. Nurse turnover (i.e., nurses leaving their jobs or the profession) has received recent attention due to the size of the problem, the consequences for the provision of safe patient care, and its contribution to a potential nursing shortage. Mills, Wood, Harrison, Chamberlain-Salaun, and Spencer (2017) identified a lack of a nurse self-concept (NSC) as one of the biggest contributors to nurses leaving the field in the first five years of their careers. Mills et al. defined NSC as the nurse’s professional identity, comprising perception of professional self, work performance, and confidence. Additional factors that influence nurses to leave their jobs include self-care, relationships with peers, interprofessional communication, knowledge base, leadership team, and professional development (Jones & Ramsbottom, 2017; Mills et al., 2017). Hayes et al. (2012) acknowledged that NSC and job satisfaction depend on each nurse’s prioritized needs, which correlate with the generation to which the nurse belongs. In developing plans or programs that help organizations retain nurses, Hayes et al. pointed out the importance of providing interventions appropriate to different generations. The cost of training new nurses and the cost of losing a nurse to a different unit, different employer, or from the profession altogether is concerning to healthcare organizations. The average cost of replacing a bedside nurse in the United States is $36,000 to $48,000, and the average cost of replacing a specialty nurse in the United States is between $82,000 and $88,000 (Trossman, 2013). The money used to train new nurses as a consequence of high turnover rates could be better used to improve nurse education and patient outcomes (Trossman, 2013). MENTOR PROGRAM TO SUPPORT NURSE RETENTION 10 Recent literature supports the need to retain nurses in their chosen careers in order to ensure a sustainable workforce that can deliver safe patient care (Trossman, 2013). Trossman (2013) explored mentor programs as a means to reduce the percentage of nurses who leave their job early in their careers. Trossman argued that a mentor program in an institution helps the new nurse acclimate to his or her new environment, while also learning the clinical skills needed for the job, saving the institution money through increased job satisfaction and reduced turnover.