The Relationship Between Structure Mentoring Programs

The issue of new alum cherish retention remains a challenge in many a(prenominal) healthc ar facilities. More than 50% of new graduate cheers leave their first employment in less(prenominal) than a year (North, Johnson, Knotts & Whelan 2006). Beca drop new regains argon much faced with a variety of stressors in their beginning practice it is clear that a structured teaching course of instruction could be of immense value. Such a program would suffer technical and aflame support to toy withs and so ease their innovation into the unit culture.This expression provides a critical inspection of the literature on wise maning, especially the impact that structured mentoring programs deport on the retention considers of new graduate nurses. In the first percentage I will explore the nature of mentorship within the nurse discipline. I will discuss the functions of a formal mentoring program and the master(prenominal) characteristics of the mentor mentee relationship. In the second discussion section I will provide a critical review of the literature concerning the relationship between mentoring programs and adjoind nurse retention grade.The third section explores putting green pitfalls that link in a dysfunctional mentoring program. Finally recomm repealations to constitutions are proposed based on the review findings. Introduction Graduating from a nursing school is a consider competent achievement. New graduates eagerly anticipate their first position in the real world. The issue however of new graduate nurse retention continues to be a grave concern in many healthcare facilities. It was reported that more than 50% of new graduate nurses leave their first employment in less than a year (North, Johnson, Knotts & Whelan 2006).New recruits are often faced with a variety of stressors associated with beginning practice. It is clear on that pointfore, that a structured mentoring program which provides technical and emotional support to new nurse s may be one of the best retention strategies for nurse administrators. This article provides a critical review of the literature on mentoring, with an emphasis on the impact that structured mentoring programs exhaust on nursing retention rates. The first section sets up mentoring concepts and processes as identify in the literature. The second section will provide a critical eview of the literature on the relationship between structured mentoring programs and the nursing retention rate.The third section explores common pitfalls that subsume in a dysfunctional mentoring program. The final section makes recommendations to organisations regarding a successful mentoring program. Signifi chiffonierce New nurse graduates have many employment options. They can aim not to work in settings where they are not supported and often they take that option. Common themes acclivitous from the literature return that many new nurses lack both confidence and a sense of competency (Oermann & Garvin 2002).They are afraid of making mistakes they speak out of an unsupportive surroundings and of being obliged to work with intemperate colleagues (Oermann & Garvin 2002). A lack of recognition of their work as well as difficult shift-work schedules have as well as been identified as sources of distress (McVicar 2003). It is a sad fact that one reveal of every tether nurses under 30 years plans to leave during his or her first year of employment (Nelson, Godfrey & Purdy 2004). The cost of much(prenominal) high levels of unnecessary nurse turnover is significant (Halfer, Graf & Sullivan 2008).More significantly the dissolventing deficit of nursing rung office inevitably affects the quality of patient of care in hospitals and can compromise patient safety (Leners, Wilson, Connor & Fenton 2006). In response to the critical issue of nursing retention, hospital managements have been urged to address the issue by ontogeny a more congenial work environment. However, it is notice able that mentoring initiatives are still not integrated into many healthcare organisations, despite a plethora of literature relating this with positive outcomes.Literature search Relevant studies were identified by searching the following electronic entropybases Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Ovid and ProQuest. The keywords or their combinations have been utilised in the searching process. These include mentorship, preceptorship, new graduate nurses, personnel retention, and personnel recruitment. opposite literature was identified finished searching the bibliographies of studies found through electronic searches, including the World Wide Web, Google educatee and library data trunks.Inclusion criteria included discussion/ opinion papers and articles/materials written in English. in that location were no finical discipline re exactions and there were in addition no specific date restrictions. Articles that were published afterwards 1999 were soug ht. The retrieved articles were reviewed and selected based on these criteria the relationship between formal mentoring programs and personnel retention benefits of mentoring new graduate transition and possible pitfalls of mentoring. Literature review What is mentoring?There is a substantial body of literature which deals with mentoring and preceptoring as distinguishable functions (Block, Claffey, Korow & McCaffrey 2005 Kelly 1994). To date however, the two terms continue to be used interchangeably or synonymously (Block et al. 2005). It is usable to draw some distinctions between them. Preceptorship is understood as an organised orientation program in which the nurse preceptor facilitates the integration of new staff into role responsibilities in the clinical setting for a special(a) period of time (Greene & Puetzer 2002).This relationship is often viewed as one-sided and patriarchal (Leners et al. 006). In contrast, mentorship is a common relationship established between two nurses on the basis of respect and compatible own(prenominal)ity with the common goal of guiding the nurse toward personal and commerceal step-up (Block et al. 2005134). The relationship often occurs over a much longer period, depending on whether the agreed-upon goals have been achieved (Andrews & Wallis 1999). Stated simply, the features of mentorship as distinct from other supporting roles in clinical settings include a strong repertoire of divine serviceer functions, reciprocal sharing and a comparatively longer duration (Morton-Cooper & Palmer 2000).Characteristics of the relationship Mentorship primarily involves a mentor and a mentee in a one-to-one relationship (Latham, Hogan & Ringl 2008). This relationship is characterised by a process of enabling, cultivating, and empowering a less experienced practitioner within the work environment (Morton-Cooper & Palmer 2000). In this longitudinal relationship, both mentors and mentees assume their own responsibilities and obliga tions in achieving either organisational or personal goals (Latham et al. 2008).In this relationship, a mentor is recognised as a wiser and more experienced practitioner, who possesses plastered personal and professional attri thoes such as good interpersonal skills, self-confidence, flexibility, knowledge, and an interest in professional growth (Kane-Urrabazo 2006193 Andrews & Wallis 1999204 Morton-Cooper & Palmer 2000). Personal attributes that have been identified as important factors to success also include good auditory sense skills, the ability to facilitate figureing and being comfortable in giving feedback (Sherrod, Roberts & Little 2008 Woodrow 1994).The literature refers to the nurse being mentored as a mentee, protege, learner, or mentoree (Zucker, Coss, Williams, Bloodworth, Lynn, Denker & Gibbs 2006 Hunter 2002). Referred to here simply as the mentee she or he can be any nurse at a distinctive stage of his/her profession (Leners et al. 2006). The characteristics of a mentee that allow a functional mentorship to flourish include honesty the capacity to take state being ready and available for feedback following through on decisions, having a strong self-identity and a willingness to learn (Wagner & Seymour 2007 Sherrod et al. 008). structured mentoring program Various structures of formal mentoring programs are available across institutions (Latham et al. 2008). Broadly speaking, the structure of a mentoring program contains several stages of strategic planning (Latham et al. 2008). Initially the focus is on establishing objectives and measurable outcomes, role photo for mentors and mentees, establishment of criteria for involvement in mentorship and the construction of a supportive system and a surveillance system of the mentor-mentee team (Latham et al. 2008).Those parties who are involved in this formal relationship are required to fulfil pre-determined aims, objectives and outcomes as identified by their respective supporting organisations (McCloughen, OBrien & Jackson 2006). The second stage in which the program is utilize involves the selection of suitable mentors, the recruitment of mentees, (on both a voluntary or involuntary basis) and mentor supplying (Latham et al. 2008). Final stages include an evaluation through reflection and feedback by mentors and mentees, to determine whether specific objectives and measurable outcomes have been achieved (Latham et al. 008).The program duration may last one year or even longer (Morton-Cooper & Palmer 2000). Structured mentoring programs and retention success In this session, several issues regarding structured mentoring program and retention success will be addressed. First, we must ask what mentoring functions are important to retention success? Second to what extent or in what way does mentoring contribute to the retention of new graduate nurses? Each of these questions is considered in the following section. Benefits of mentoring programsMentoring has been shown to provide a beneficial effect on a proteges job bliss levels and willingness to remain in an organisation (Fleig-Palmer 2009). wizard aspect of the mentoring relationship is the passing of knowledge from a more experienced staff (mentor) to a less experienced staff (protege) (Heartfield, Gibson, Chesterman & Tagg 2005). Research adverts that by the absorption via socialisation of specific skills to proteges is positively related to personal encyclopedism in the workplace (Sherrod et al. 2008).This component is akin to preceptorship which also includes skill- go againstment (Sherrod et al. 2008) and is widely accepted as a crucial orientation to new graduate nurses. Literature has linked preceptorship to a high level of propitiation together with successful retention (Almada, Carafoli, Flattery, French & McNamara 2004 Lee, Tzeng, Lin and Yeh 2009). Anecdotal evidence shows that new graduates after completing the preceptorship program tend to seek more support, a fact which in itse lf would imply a strong claim for good mentoring programs.A second aspect of the mentoring relationship is the psycho-social support the mentor may provide to a mentee support which enhances his or her sense of competence and confidence (Heartfield et al. 2005). Recent findings from a longitudinal learning suggest that mentoring fosters organisational retention rates through the establishment of emotional connections between mentor and mentee, by contributing to high level of commitment to the organisation (Beecroft, Dorey & Wenten 2007).A substantial body of literature also supports the notion that mentorship initiatives can help new recruits transiting into the unit culture (Leners et al. 006). Positive environments can be created through frequent fundamental interaction, talk and relational caring between different generations of co-workers (Latham et al. 2008). Such interactions can help new nurses transcend the generations, norms and determine differences in a unit (Latham et al. 2008). It also can aid a new recruit in getting in touch with overt or covert culture within the practice environment (Morrow 2008). Ultimately, better patient outcomes can be achieved, which in turn can increase nurses satisfaction (Leners et al. 2006). many another(prenominal) studies show that individuals who were mentored report higher levels of job satisfaction (Halfer et al. 2008 Krugman, Bretschneider, Horn, Krsek, Moutafis & Smith 2006 Faron & Poeltler 2007). An abundance of research studies indicates that organisations who implement mentoring programs show a consistent decrease in turn-over rate of new nurses (Hurst & Koplin-Baucum 2003 Greene & Puetzer 2002 Halfer & Graf 2006 Halfer et al. 2008 Zucker et al. 2006 Persaud 2008). Similar results are also pellucid in other disciplines such as Medicine, Pharmacy and Academia (Cohn, Bethancourt & Simington 2009 Sambunjak, Straus & Marusic 2006).One report in particular highlights the benefits of mentoring. A consider from the southern United States by Zucker and co-workers (2006) was make to determine the impact of an 18-month mentoring program on nurse retention in five hospitals. Prior to commencement of the program, participants completed a personality profile, to manipulate successful pairing (Zucker et al. 2006). This program included topics such as communication and conflict resolution skills, co-operative learning and time-management (Zuker et al. 006) all subjects which are normally not covered in conventional orientation programs.At the end of the program, both parties reported that the mentoring relationship increased their knowledge and helped them move around better people and better colleagues (Zucker et al. 2006). higher(prenominal) levels of protege satisfaction were directly translated into increased retention. In this case, the increase was 16% (Zucker et al. 2006). Given that the high turnover rate of new recruits, mentoring program yield a significance of cost-saving to hea lthcare system. Research methodology/measurement issuesAdmittedly, strict evidence for an improved retention rate is hampered by the small sample size of these programs (Hamilton, Murray, Lindholm & Myers 1989 Faron & Poelter 2007). Atkin and William (1995) argue that findings which result from such small purposive studies cannot be generalised. Despite numerous studies therefore which show that retention rates increase with the application of a mentorship program (Block et al. 2005), it is still difficult to draw a firm expiration on the direct causal relationship between mentoring programs and the attained retention level.This is due to the limited issue forth of information provided with respect to evaluation tools, sample size, mentor styles as well as the lack of a comparison group in the available studies (Gagliardi, Perrier, Webster, Leslie, Bell, Levinson, Rotstein, Tourangeau, Morrison, Silver & Straus 2009 Greene & Puetzer 2002 Hurst & Koplin-Baucum 2003). In addition, t he outcomes of these studies may be affected by differences that exist in a mentor-mentee relationship the programs aim and function and the frequency of interaction between mentor and mentee (Jacobi 1991 Beecroft et al. 2007).Lack of strong quantitative data may prevent the establishment of a positive colleration between mentoring programs and retention rates. Furthermore it can be argued that retention strategies such as mentorship (which are deemed appropriate in one hospital) may not work in another (Jacobi 1991). Atkin and William (1995) point out that the findings might only show that mentors and mentees experience during mentorship was relatively new to them. In spite of all critiques, no one however has doubted the overall value that mentoring programs have for mentees, mentors as well as for organisations (Block et al. 2005).The existing mentoring studies on nursing which are linked to retention rates include cross-sectional and longitudinal components (Halfer et al. 2008). In contrast, trial-and-error studies with correlational design, contain data which are only collected for a single point of the study and are subject to a limited amount of participants (Caine 1989 Fagan & Fagan 1982). Quasi-data-based design is therefore recommended (Jacobi 1991). In such studies data is collected from a group of participants who receive mentoring programs together with another non-receiving group, at multiple points throughout the study (Jacobi 1991).Until today, it is not known how long the mentorship effect takes to emerge, in this instance, nor how long it will last (Jacobi 1991). Pure experimental research has value in determining the relationship between mentoring and retention of new graduates (Jacobi 1991) but not many current studies can afford to adopt such a strict approach to measuring rod the cause and effect of mentoring programs and retention rates. Pitfalls of a structured mentoring program Despite numerous of benefits gained from a mentoring rel ationship, the craved outcome such as retention not always achieved.Several types of problems that might occur in mentoring include- Selection of mentors A number of authors note that inequity in the selection of mentors can be problematic to the success of a mentoring program (Greene & Puetzer 2002 Andrews & Wallis 1999). Andrews and Wallis (1999206) state that some of the nurses are not mentors by plectron, as they dare not reject their selection by the nursing manager. The mentor selection criteria have not been made clear and explicit (Andrews & Wallis 1999).Sometimes, an experienced staff nurse does not have the attributes to become a good mentor (Greene & Puetzer 2002). Indeed, selection of the mentor should be subject not to seniority but to the mentors availability, interpersonal skills, clinical knowledge, and teaching experience (Greene & Puetzer 200269). An optional basis may also be used (Atkin & William 1995). An inadequate mentor who lacks strong values, or good perso nal and professional attributes and who exhibits raving mad behaviours can be a liability (Kane-Urrabazo 2006).Such behaviours can include negative feedback or a lack of respect towards the mentee and can result in decreased self-esteem in the new recruit (Kane-Urrabazo 2006 Woodrow 1994). These behaviours are also known as joy stealing (Heinrich 2007, cited in Driscoll 20098). The consequence of this will be frustration for either or both mentor and mentee (Kane-Urrabazo 2006). Poor mentoring can drive the newly assiduous staff away (Kane-Urrabazo 2006 Woodrow 1994). It is therefore imperative that a formalised selection criteria for mentors should be identified.Compatibility Many proteges complain of being enmeshed in a dysfunctional relationship with their mentor (Feldman 1999). This is likely to occur if there is forced matching when a less experienced nurse is assigned to be with a mentor pre-selected from experienced staff nurses (Morton-Cooper & Palmer 200046). Given the cl osed relationship between mentor and mentee, there is a find of this relationship becoming destructive (Woodrow 1994). Empirical studies have identified this issue (Fenske 1986).Common themes that emerge are failure of the mentor or mentee to maintain confidentiality of private information, mentee abuse of the relationship in which the mentors resources are exploited for personal advantage, mentor abuse of the enthusiasm and goodwill of the mentee by making use of his/her as a personal helper or assistant (Hunter 2002). Eventually varying degrees of injurious consequences to mentor, mentee and organisation can develop if not properly monitored (Feldman 1999). The literature has identified that mentees would have better opportunities for growth if mentees were able to select the mentors (Woodrow 1994).Opposition to this suggests that matching is not as important as meeting regularly for a successful mentoring relationship (Beecroft, Santner, Lacy, Kunzman & Dorey 2006). Training for mentors Undoubtedly, a mentor is the key person in the success of a mentoring relationship. However, several studies have shown that most mentors nip deficient in their role as mentor because their grooming consisted of learning on the job, and by watching how other people do it (Andrews & Wallis 1999205-206).There are some institutions providing formal mentor training to guide the mentor along (Hurst & Koplin-Baucum 2003). An evaluation study done by Jinks and Williams in 1994 (cited in Andrews & Wallis 1999205) found those who undertake a formal course with exams tangle significantly more able to undertake the role. A formal mentoring course commonly would examine the phases in mentorship, recognising different adult learning styles and personality traits, provide techniques in dealing with conflict and impressively help to manage the relationship with the mentee (Hurst & Koplin-Baucum 2003 Block et al. 00. In spite of these improvements, the majority of the course content wa s still comprehend as inadequate by mentors (Andrews & Wallis 1999).Additionally, those who had left school for a significant period of time, might feel the lack of a theoretical background leading to doubts as to whether they possess sufficient preparation to be a mentor (Andrews & Wallis 1999). Woodrow (1994813) argues that the ideal of mentorship might be undermined by token mentorship, in which mentors are ineffective to perform true mentor functions. RecommendationIt is important for hospital managers who prepare and support nurses as mentors to develop a greater understanding of mentoring from the mentors perspective (Atkin & Williams 1995). Andrews and Wallis (1999206) argue that mentors gain invaluable skills and satisfaction from their work but this often tends to be intrinsic and is internalised. Several authors believe that administrative support through financial compensation, staffing and schedule flexibility, title and leadership recognition can act as motivators for experienced staff (Greene & Puetzer 2002).Such measures would make mentors more likely to commit and sustain in this longitudinal relationship (Greene & Puetzer 2002). In addition, on-going mentor support through a mentor-support group may be helpful in maintaining the momentum (Latham et al. 2008). Latham et al. (2008) had further examined a university-hospital partnership mentoring program. The program included a component of mentor support as part of the program follow-up. It offered an opportunity for mentors to vent about the difficulties they were facing, and share the successful experiences in the mentorship.A mentor support group can clearly help management to monitor the mentorship progress and develop a strategy to tackle emerging problems (Latham et al. 2008). Conclusion It is important that healthcare organisations not continue to take the nurse retention issue lightly. The provision of an effective mentoring program structure is the appropriate response. This is essen tial in circumstances clinical entry nurses make a smooth transition into the working environment and at the aforesaid(prenominal) time benefit experienced nurses to achieve a higher level of professional development.Such a program can also help the organisation transcend a multitude of problems by creating a positive environment where every staff member may enjoy working. In order for an effective mentoring program to be carried out, organisations must allocate sufficiently experienced staff to act as mentors provide flexible staffing and scheduling give quality training to mentors and support the mentors through various means by title recognition, wage adjustment and support groups.In turn the program can help organisations increase retention and reduce turn-over for nurses, particularly new graduate staff. It can thus achieve better patient outcomes and increase nurses job satisfaction. By providing a structured mentoring program for new nurses life development and advancement , we can help to improve the longevity of active nursing careers and also help to improve the problem of current nurses retention.