Structured Mentorship and the Nursing Clinical Ladder

When nursing turnover is greater than the national average, professional development of nursing staff increases job satisfaction and employment retention. One approach that can address the professional development is mentoring.

The evidence-based practice (EBP) project's aim was to determine whether a short-term structured mentorship program led by a clinical nurse specialist increased work engagement among staff nurses within 8 to 10 weeks.

The EBP project was implemented on 2 adult acute care inpatient units. Using Wagner's caring mentorship model, a mentorship program using the organization's clinical ladder criteria was established where nurses were able to participate and complete selected professional development activities based on personal interests and perceived strengths. The clinical nurse specialist provided guidance and advice based each participant's identified activity.

Since the completion of the initial pilot, the organization has expanded the mentorship program to include mentorship of nursing leaders as well as staff on the clinical units. With this expansion, the organization has trained an additional 167 mentors and has a consistent 27% overall advancement of nurses on the clinical ladder. In addition, advanced practice registered nurses have implemented mentorship as part of their onboarding practice for advanced practice nursing.

The EBP project demonstrated that a mentorship program using an established clinical ladder can increase elements of work engagement and satisfaction with the mentor and program among hospital nursing staff. Sustaining and expanding the program can facilitate with increased nursing job satisfaction and employee retention.