2 the largest age group of nursing workforce at about 25% of the total RN population [4]. Decreased staﬀ satisfaction accounted for 52% of workforce shortage [5], and insuﬃ- cient numbers of faculty and other factors contributed to more than 67,000 qualiﬁed applicants being turned away from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs [1]. This along with a projected increase in demand for nursing positions calls for the profession to explore strategies to re- cruit and retain nurses. The concept of mentoring is not new to nursing, as Florence Nightingale was known to have mentored many nurses in her day [6]. Stewart and Krueger [7], Yoder [8, 9], Vance and Olsen [10], Walker [11], Billings [12], Fox [13], the National League for Nursing [14], and others [15–17] have contributed to the published nursing literature on mentoring; however, further nursing research is needed related to outcomes and eﬀectiveness of mentoring, such as career satisfaction and intent to stay in the profession. Mentoring is a reciprocal, long-term relationship with an emotional commitment that exists between a novice (pro- te´ge´) and experienced (mentor) nurse; mentoring implies a knowledge or competence gradient, in which the teaching- learning process contributes to a sharing of advice or exper- tise, role development, and formal and informal support to inﬂuence the career of the prote´ge´ [7, 8, 18–23]. Mentor- ing provides prote´ge´s and mentors with opportunities for professional growth and career satisfaction. Lack of such satisfaction with a career in nursing may contribute to nurses leaving the profession. With the predicted shortage and anticipated need for nurses in healthcare and academia in the future, it is more important than ever to explore career satisfaction, not just job satisfaction, for nurses. Career satisfaction is deﬁned as the contentment that a nurse feels as a nursing professional in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards [24]. Career satis- faction concerns a nurse’s feeling about the career choice of nursing [25]. Job satisfaction is related to the satisfaction a nurse has with a current position in nursing; career sat- isfaction encompasses more than just the nurses’ job. It refers more broadly to satisfaction with a career in nursing and may be a critical element in retaining nurses in the profession. Nurses who have a sense of career satisfaction and feel more fulﬁlled may contribute to the growth of the profession. Career satisfaction was measured by total scores on the newly developed Mariani Nursing Career Satisfaction Scale (MNCSS). Mentoring may be a strategy that can contribute to career satisfaction for both the mentor and prote´ge´. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Purpose of the Study. This study explored the inﬂuence of participation in a mentoring relationship on career sat- isfaction and on intent to stay in nursing, and the rela- tionship between career satisfaction and intent to stay in nursing. Intent to stay in the nursing profession was deﬁned as the nurse’s plan in projected number of years to remain active in the nursing profession in practice, education, Nursing Research and Practice administration, or research. The following hypotheses were tested in this research study: (1) registered nurses who participated in a mentoring relationship will have greater career satisfaction than those who did not participate in a mentoring rela- tionship; (2) registered nurses who participated in a mentoring relationship will report the intent to stay in the nursing profession longer than registered nurses who did not participate in a mentoring relationship; (3) career satisfaction will be positively related to intent to stay in the nursing profession. For purposes of this study, the mentor was a nurse who was considered experienced, competent, or expert in the novice to expert continuum and more experienced than the novice nurse in terms of knowledge, skill, and competence. The prote´ge´ was the novice nurse in the mentoring relation- ship, in any area of the profession who was new to the area of practice, education, administration, or research, and lacked knowledge, experience, or competence in that setting. The mentor and prote´ge´ were self-identiﬁed on the demographic questionnaire. 2.2. Theoretical Framework. The theoretical works of Patricia Benner [18, 19] on novice to expert practice and Hildegard Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relations [20–22] were blended to provide a framework for this study. Mentoring is frequently described as an interpersonal relationship between novice and expert nurses. Benner’s model, which was introduced to the nursing community in the 1980s through her acclaimed work, entitled Novice to expert: Excellence in clinical practice [18, 19], supports this novice to expert relationship that occurs in a mentoring relationship, and Peplau’s [20–22] Theory of Interpersonal Relations sup- ports the interpersonal phase of the mentoring relationship. Aspects of both of these theories provided support for this study on mentoring, career satisfaction, and intent to stay in nursing. 2.3. Review of the Literature. Mentoring has been discussed in the nursing literature as early as the days of Florence Nightingale, but more recently since 1974 with the initial work of Kramer [26]. The literature is replete with theoretical and anecdotal articles related to mentoring, although the published literature revealed limited research on mentoring related to the outcomes of career satisfaction and intent to stay in the nursing profession. Kramer, in her landmark work on reality shock, suggested that a strong mentoring process could be eﬀective in helping new nurses move through the three phases of reality shock. Vance [23] has contributed greatly to the literature on mentoring since she began her research in 1977 on mentoring in nursing, where a sample of 71 “nurse-inﬂuentials” reported that mentoring played a key role in their success, professional satisfaction, and leadership in nursing. Vance developed a paradigm illustrating the types of mentoring that were signiﬁcant to the