Paper: Impact of Mentoring on Novice Nurses' Job Satisfaction and Retention (40th Biennial Convention (October 31st- November 4th, 2009))

Tuesday, November 3, 2009: 3:25 PM

Deborah Kane Patterson, RN, PhD
Faculty of Nursing, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

Learning Objective 1: identify how varying lengths of a mentoring program affect the satisfaction, commitment and turnover intent of new graduate nurses.

Learning Objective 2: identify workforce issues that contribute to new graduate nurses' retention, satisfaction and job commitment.

New graduate nurses are leaving their current positions at an alarmingly higher rate than experienced nurses (Winter-Collins & McDaniel, 2000). Turnover rates have been reported as high as 30% within one year of practice and 57% by two years in an American hospital setting (Bowles & Candela, 2005; Halfer, 2007). According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) (2008), 6.6% of Canadian Registered Nurses under the age of 30 did not renew their licenses in 2007. Similarly, 4.4% of Ontario’s 2007 new graduates nurses did not renew their nursing licenses in 2008 (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2008). The new graduate nurse, in today’s intricate healthcare environment, often experiences difficulty when transitioning from student to professional nurse, with resulting dissatisfaction (Altier & Krsek, 2006). Hospitals have started to acknowledge the need to assist new graduates in their transition, recognizing that successful orientation of new staff is related to increased retention and patient safety (Floyd, Kretschmann, & Young, 2005).

The purpose of this correlational study was to evaluate the Vermont Nursing Internship Program being implemented in an acute care hospital in Ontario, by examining the impact of length of orientation on organizational commitment , propensity to leave and job satisfaction of new graduate nurses. A repeated measures longitudinal design was utilized to collect data from 55 newly graduated registered nurses at 3, 9 , and 18 months of employment. Findings revealed that participants who received 3 to 6 months of orientation were significantly more satisfied with their jobs that those who received less than 1 month of orientation. Similarly, nurses who received 3 to 6 months of orientation were significantly more committed to the organization than those who received only 1 month of orientation. Anova results revealed no significant differences in propensity to leave scores based on length of orientation. According to responses in the open-ended question that asked why the participant would consider leaving their current job, 62% replied they would leave to secure full-time employment.

The results of this study can be used by nurse managers seeking to build and shape mentoring programs for new graduates to ensure they receive the support needed to assist them as they progress from novice to expert nurse. These results also hold implications for nurse managers seeking to balance their budgets in a time of ever-increasing financial constraints and looming nursing shortages.

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