Implementation of Mentoring Program for New Nurse Managers
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Nurse managers’ (NMs) duties are becoming more complex, while the workforce is becoming less experienced. NM duties are a crucial interface between patients, nursing staff, medical staff, other clinical and ancillary staff, and hospital administration (DeCampli et al., 2010). Witges and Scanlan (2014) emphasized that staff nurses who progressed to formal leadership positions lack management and leadership development. New NMs are often promoted to formal leadership roles without professional development and mentoring for their new role (Westphal, 2012). A qualitative study by Moore et al. (2016) revealed that nine out of thirteen participants were hungry for a more formal mentorship to guide and support them. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Future of Nursing report emphasizes the call for nurses to mentor those new in their role (Fitzpatrick, 2010). There was a critical need to advance and implement a more structured and formal mentorship program for new NMs in the adult inpatient, perioperative, and maternal and child health services at a 264-bed acute-care hospital in Irvine, California. Nine NMs were onboarded in the last three years during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. No NMs in this project underwent a formal mentorship training program due to increased workloads during COVID-19; thus, many assumed their new role with minimal training. Price et al. (2018) discussed that the lack of proper training or mentorship programs may result in inadequate workplace expectations, job dissatisfaction, lack of support, and high nurse turnover.
The primary purpose of the DNP project was to implement a mentorship program that supported and assisted new NMs with their transition into formal leadership roles. Guided by Patricia Benner's Novice to Expert Theoretical Concept (Benner, 1982), the eight-month mentorship program expanded the leadership knowledge and skills necessary to execute leadership roles. Through the mentoring program, the NMs reported improvement in leadership qualities as evidenced by improved scores on all three domains of the American Organization for Nursing Leaderships (AONL) Nurse Leader Competency Assessment Tool: Self-Assessment (see Appendix A), completed pre- and post-mentoring. The project sought for NMs to experience an increase in all three domains: 50% in the science of managing a business, 50% in the art of leadership, and 25% in the leader within. The second objective required 75% of NMs to reach the implementation phase of a quality improvement (QI) project they initiated during the mentoring program. The third objective was for the mentees to demonstrate a two-point increase on at least six of nine questions on the 360 assessments (see Appendix B) provided by their managers at the beginning and end of the program. The final objective was for 85% of the NMs participating in the project to rate the program on a five-point Likert scale (see Appendix C) as four or five, indicating effective or extremely effective. The goal was that NMs who completed the mentoring program would be better prepared to support and lead staff in providing high quality care and be able to support the organization’s mission, which is to provide affordable healthcare services to improve the health of Kaiser Permanente members and the community.