Health System and Nurses

Mentorship has emerged as one of the most important aspects towards enhancing staff retention in the healthcare environment. This paper examines the need for developing a mentor program for Northwell health system. Northwell health system is currently facing challenges with regards to staff retention, patient care delivery, and patient outcomes. The current situation at Northwell health system requires the establishment of a suitable program towards improving staff retention and ultimately enhancing patient outcomes.

The paper provides a discussion of the current situation at the health system and how a mentor program could help improve patient outcomes and patient satisfaction. The evaluation of the need for the training program is carried out from a human resource perspective because of the link between mentorship and staff welfare and development. Training Need at Northwell Health System The modern healthcare environment is characterized by the increased need for nurse retention given the prevalence of nursing shortage.

Northwell health system faces the need to hire and retain nurses as part of measures to enhance patient safety and patient outcomes. One of the most important measures that has been found crucial towards enhancing retention of nurses within a healthcare facility or system is establishing a mentorship program. Mentor program help in improving the knowledge, skills, and abilities of novice nurses, which in turn contributes to enhance patient care deliver practices, improved patient outcomes, and better retention of nurses.

In light of the current circumstances at Northwell health system, the creation of a mentoring program is a major training need towards enhancing nurse retention and enhancing patient care delivery processes. According to Wagner & Seymour (2007), mentoring is an empowering relationship between experienced nurses and novice nurses towards enriching clinical practice and nurturing an individual holistically. Mentoring basically creates a learning relationship through which novice nurses are empowered to become proficient and competent in their daily operations in a healthcare facility or organization.

The improved clinical practice from mentorship in the healthcare setting is attributable to the fact that the program incorporates formal and informal approaches towards guiding, teaching, and supporting novice nurses. The other aspects of mentoring that results in enhanced clinical practice by novice nurses include role modeling, coaching, networking, counseling, sharing, and advocacy. For Northwell health system, the need for a mentor program is demonstrated by the fact that the system hires novice nurses who work in collaboration with experienced nurses.

Since these novice nurses have no experience in clinical practice, their effectiveness in the setting is significantly hindered. Additionally, these nurses face numerous challenges in the clinical setting because of their inexperience in working in a practical healthcare environment. Apart from hiring novice nurses, the system also includes nurses who are not familiar with the operations of Northwell health system.

While these nurses may have worked elsewhere and have practical experience in a healthcare setting, they are new to the system and do not know how the system functions on a daily basis. The other reasons for a training need is the nurse retention challenges at Northwell health system, which are compounded by the prevalent nursing shortage. The system's human resource department is increasingly facing the need to develop and establish suitable policies and practices that promote recruitment and retention of highly qualified nurse professionals.

Such policies and practices will play a crucial role towards reducing staff turnover at Northwell health system, which is associated with high operational costs and negative impacts on patient care, patient satisfaction, and patient outcomes. A mentor program will be crucial towards addressing these challenges at Northwell health system. The mentor program should be established as part of the human resource policies and practices at the system. The program should be geared towards establishing a framework through which nurses obtain personal and career guidance within and outside the clinical setting.

Such guidance will help in lessening turnover and enhancing patient care delivery process, which will in turn contribute to enhanced patient outcomes. Background Information As previously mentioned, mentoring is the creation of a learning relationship between an experienced and novice nurse towards enhancing clinical practice. Novice nurses need personal and career guidance when making transitions from the learning environment (Jones, 2016). One of the role of mentors in enhancing clinical practice is to help novice nurses to have smooth transitions from the learning environment to the clinical setting.

During this process, mentors help novice nurses to acquaint themselves with the various aspects of the healthcare setting and system in order to improve patient care practices. The process entails conducting orientation through which new nurses learn about the daily operations of the healthcare system or clinical setting. Additionally, new nurses receive training on their respective roles in the clinical setting and what is expected of them vis-a-vis patient care delivery processes.

Orientation is an important task of mentors since the mentor program at Northwell health system will be targeted towards new hires and carried out online. While some of these new hires will be graduates and others from a different health system, the online orientation will help them familiarize themselves with Northwell health system. The new hires will be given the liberty to go online and select a mentor of their choice within the health system.

The second role of mentors in this program involves providing personal and clinical guidance to new hires. Through providing personal and clinical guidance, mentors help new nurses to undergo additional training of formal supervision towards improved clinical practice (Nash & Scammell, 2010). For new hires, the personal and clinical guidance provided by experienced nurses acts as an avenue for workplace learning, which is crucial towards the success of nurses throughout their professional journey.

The personal and clinical guidance help enhance the chances of success for new hires through providing them with practice-based teaching that is relevant to their particular needs. The practice-based teaching provides new hires/employees at Northwell health system with more knowledge that translates to effectiveness in clinical practice. As the new hires obtain more knowledge and confident in their respective roles and responsibilities, the operations of Northwell health system are characterized by improved patient satisfaction and patient outcomes.

Third, mentors act as safe sounding board for problems experienced by new nurses in their respective roles and responsibilities in the health system (Leavitt, 2015). In this regard, new nurses can express their problems and challenges to mentors who in turn help them overcome these challenges through providing relevant personal and clinical guidance. Through this process, the new hires obtain contextual and immediate feedback on the issues they face.

Moreover, mentors provide new perspectives on the issues or problems experienced by new nurses, which help in the professional growth and development of new nurses. Due to the timely nature of the help they obtain from mentors, the new nurses become more confident in their work. In essence, by acting as safe sounding board for problems, mentors help new nurses to develop the much-needed confidence, which is associated with numerous benefits with regards to enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes.

As mentors address the problems/challenges experienced by new nurses, they help the new nurses to develop a sense of meaning in their work as they thrive and grow in their careers (Leavitt, 2015). Data to Substantiate Need for the Mentorship Program The need for mentorship is the health system is evident in existing literature on mentorship and professional growth/development in nursing careers. According to Leavitt (2015), mentorship in the healthcare setting helps in enhancing nursing competencies and boosting the professional growth of nurses.

The professional growth and development of nurses arising from mentorship is linked to the assistance mentors provide to new nurses to get through the rough patches and challenges in the clinical setting. Nash & Scammell (2010) argue that mentorship is crucial towards staff development in a healthcare or clinical setting. Through mentorship, nurses select a mentor of their choice and obtain clinical guidance and training that is relevant to their specific field.

Mentorship is strongly linked to human resource policies and practices because it is directly linked to staff welfare and development. According to Hnatiuk (2012), mentoring has been found successful in promoting professional growth and development of novice nurses transitioning to their various roles in the clinical setting. This enhances the effectiveness of human resources in addressing the needs of employees with regards to facilitating their professional.