The organizational impact of a new graduate pediatric nurse mentoring program

Abstract

Successful mentoring programs for new graduate nurses are designed to provide professional supports to ease the transition of these newcomers from student to practicing nurse. In the financially constrained health care environment, a resource-intensive program can be sustained only by leaders who see quantitative evidence of organizational impact over time. A descriptive study was undertaken at a pediatric academic medical center to compare the job satisfaction and retention rates of two cohorts of new graduate nurses: one before and one after the implementation of a Pediatric RN Internship Program. In this study overall job satisfaction was significantly higher in the post-internship group as compared to the pre-internship group. Improved job satisfaction was also reflected in a lower turnover rate (12% vs. 20% in the pre-internship group) that was sustained during the 2-year post-intervention study period. By lowering turnover rates, organizations avoid costs associated with recruitment, orientation, and temporary labor coverage for vacant RN positions.