Growing the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Workforce Through Mentoring: A Scoping Review

The purpose of this article is to highlight evidence specific to the neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) workforce related to successful mentoring programs. Specifically, the authors of this article explored recent evidence of mentorship to improve job satisfaction and retention of the NNP workforce.

NNPs are valuable members of neonatal healthcare team. Because of the aging NNP workforce, methods to recruit, train, mentor, develop, and retain new NNPs are imperative.

Using a quality appraisal tool from the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews, articles were identified through electronic database searches using search terms related to mentoring, nurse practitioners, recruitment, and retention. Studies published in English between 2013 and 2023 were included. Peer-reviewed quantitative and qualitative articles were synthesized and critically appraised by 4 reviewers.

The authors identified 46 articles with a focus on mentoring in nursing of which 12 articles include mentoring for nurse practitioners. Research indicates that mentoring relationships are valuable in many healthcare roles and professions. Evidence is limited indicating the impact of mentoring in the highly specialized role of the NNP.

Mentoring is an invaluable component of professional nursing and counters incivility while advancing competency, job satisfaction, and retention. Additional research is needed regarding NNP-specific mentoring programs.