A review of mentoring in education: some lessons for nursing

The mentoring relationship has been described as an invaluable learning activity for beginners as well as experienced practitioners such as teachers, administrators, nurses, managers, and other professionals. In an attempt to identify key outcomes of mentoring for the parties concerned, this paper examined some of the salient research literature on mentoring taken from the discipline of education. We drew upon the findings of a structured review, in which 159 pieces of empirical literature on mentoring in educational settings was examined. This paper reviews the positive and negative outcomes of mentoring for the mentor and protégé/mentee. Discussion of the findings as well as some important implications for those charged with planning mentoring programs in nursing are outlined.