Cynthia Apollonia Wright
Published: 2014
Total Pages: 42
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According to the 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics' Registered Nursing Workforce Projection, the shortage of registered nurses in the United States is predicted to reach 1.2 million nurses needed by the year 2020. In 2013, almost 80,000 qualified registered nurse applicants had been turned away from U.S. baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs. Nearly two-thirds of nursing schools identified faculty shortages as a major reason for not accepting qualified applicants into their programs (AACN, 2013). Mentorship has been cited as a best practice to successfully develop new nursing faculty that will improve recruitment, retention, and foster future nurse mentors (Dunham-Taylor, Lynn, Moore, McDaniel, Walker, 2008). Purpose: This qualitative pilot study will explore the meaning of positive mentoring experiences and characteristics of a positive mentor for novice nursing faculty that teach in baccalaureate nursing programs. There is a significant gap in the literature, with limited studies, found in both qualitative and quantitative research exploring the mentoring experiences and/or characteristics of a positive mentor specific for novice nursing faculty that teach in baccalaureate nursing programs (Anderson 2009, Anibas, Hanson-Brenner, Zorn, 2009, Cho, Ramanan, Feldman, 2011). This study aims to gain deeper understanding of positive mentoring experiences and characteristics of a positive mentor. Research Question 1: What are positive mentoring experiences for novice nursing faculty within the first two years of teaching in baccalaureate nursing programs? Research Question 2: What are characteristics in a positive mentor for novice nursing faculty within the first two years of teaching in baccalaureate nursing programs?