Beta Xi Chapter Mentors Through a Leadership Intern Program

Saylor, Jennifer

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Jennifer Saylor, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC¹
Judith Herrman, PhD, RN¹
Cynthia A. Diefenbeck, PsyD, APRN, BC¹
Jennifer Graber, MSN, APRN, BC²
(1)School of Nursing, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
(2)Department of Nursing, Delaware Technical Community College, Newark, DE

Learning Objective 1: The learners will be able to describe Beta Xi Chapter’s Leadership Intern Program, which provides mentoring to new inductees.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to formulate a Leadership Program at their local chapter that fosters mentoring using Beta Xi as an exemplar.

The Beta Xi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) cultivates future leaders and ensures an active sustainable chapter through informal and formal mentoring. Mentoring fosters professional and personnel growth and development, which is an essential piece to shape leaders in nursing. Beta Xi developed a Leadership Intern Program as a formal mentoring process that is mutually beneficial the mentors, mentees, and the chapter. Potential interns who are newly inducted members must complete the application process. The Leadership Intern Program is monitored by our succession committee. Beta Xi uses various mentoring modalities including face-to-face contact, emails, social networking, and telephone.

The Leadership Intern Program has grown over the years. This past year, the board matched five interns with Beta Xi board members. The interns provided much needed support to the chapter and in return, they received financial support for their NCLEX exam. The mentored projects were social media, chapter history, educational outreach, and support of the spring dinner meeting and silent auction. The social media project was crucial in updating the circle, which met the criteria for the “Circle Award”. The intern also increased awareness of the Chapter Website, which increased membership involvement. The chapter history project served to illustrate the historical events of the Beta Xi Chapter. The intern support for the spring dinner meeting and silent auction yielded an overwhelming attendance rate. The profits provided financial support for some inductees’ registration fees. The educational outreach program was developed as a portable and sustainable program for local middle and high school students. This program focused on diversity in the healthcare workforce. Along with STTI, the vision of the Beta Xi Leadership Intern Program is to provide intern with an opportunity to expand leadership skills, develop a relationship with a mentor, and nurture a lasting commitment to STTI.

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