Effects of the Mentoring Program as a Strategy for Retention of Clinical Nurses

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of a mentoring program\nas a strategy for the retention of clinical nurses. Method: Research subjects were 20\nmentors, 20 mentees and 22 clinical nurses for a control group of mentees. A\nmentoring program was developed by an expert committee and applied to the\nexperimental group for six months. Data were collected at three and six months after\nthe application of the program from September, 2008 to March, 2009. Data were\nanalyzed using χ2-test, t-test, Repeated Measures ANOVA, One-way ANOVA in\nSPSS/Win 15.0 Program. Results: Job satisfaction, organizational commitment,\nempowerment, and carrier commitment in the mentees of the experimental group were\nsignificantly higher than the nurses of the control group. Intention of resignation in\nmentees of the experimental group were significantly lower than the nurses of the\ncontrol group. Also, there were significant interaction between the groups and the times\nof measurements in all variables. Conclusion: The mentoring program showed positive\nimpact on the variables for maintenance of clinical nurses. Recommendation: Based on\nthese findings, retention strategies using mentoring programs were recommended to\nreduce clinical nurses' resignation and improve the competency of clinical nurses that\nleads to the productivity of nursing organizations.