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

Area of Science:

• Neonatal healthcare workforce development
• Advanced practice nursing
• Professional development in nursing

Background:

• Neonatal nurse practitioners (NNPs) are essential to neonatal care teams.
• The aging NNP workforce necessitates strategies for recruitment, training, and retention.
• Effective mentoring is vital for developing and retaining NNPs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review evidence on mentoring programs for the neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) workforce.
• To explore how mentorship impacts NNP job satisfaction and retention.
• To identify gaps in research regarding NNP-specific mentoring.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review methodology was employed, adhering to PRISMA guidelines.
• Electronic databases were searched for studies published between 2013 and 2023.
• Peer-reviewed quantitative and qualitative articles were synthesized and appraised.

Main Results:

• Twelve articles focused on mentoring for nurse practitioners were identified from 46 nursing mentoring articles.
• Mentoring is recognized as valuable across various healthcare professions.
• Limited evidence specifically addresses the impact of mentoring on the NNP role.

Conclusions:

• Mentorship is integral to professional nursing, enhancing competency, job satisfaction, and retention.
• Mentoring can help mitigate workplace incivility.
• Further research is required to develop and evaluate NNP-specific mentoring initiatives.