How to Develop Group Mentoring in Nursing: 5 Tips
A new job can be overwhelming in any professional setting, but this is especially true for new nurses. Mentoring has long proven to be a sustainable method of helping to ease that transition from student to registered nurse, but programs can be costly. That’s where group mentoring comes in. It offers all the benefits of traditional mentorship, while easing the financial burden of the host facility.
What Is Group Mentoring?
One of many mentorship models, it mirrors the one-to-one model intentions, but differs by assigning a group of mentees per one mentor. In the group model, the mentor may facilitate discussions and feedback sessions for two — or often up to five — new nurses to help them improve their approach to patient care.
Ideally, this format will also motivate an informal adoption of the peer mentorship model as well, where nurses of related experience levels provide counsel and support for one another to further enhance program outcomes.
What Are the Benefits of a Group Mentoring Program?
Understaffing is a real issue in healthcare. With nursing shortages continuing to rise, programs that pull seasoned nurses from direct patient care can have costly effects on nursing morale and patient safety. Reducing the demand for mentors to as few as one per group of new nurses increases the availability of experienced staff for normal workflow.
Research has shown that new nurses who feel supported as they orient to their new roles grow their skill set and improve their critical thinking faster than nurses without that same guidance. By implementing a mentorship program, employers benefit from employees who are quicker to practice independently and from increased levels of clinician retention.
How to Know If Group Mentorship Is Right for Your Facility
Implementation of any new program requires careful consideration, and despite the many benefits, group mentorship does have its limitations. Let’s break down its pros and cons for easier decision making.
| Cost effective
Offers collaborative learning environment and increases communication skills Promotes diversity of voices and exposure to varied perspectives and experiences Benefits organizational culture by encouraging the early adoption of teamwork and community |
Mentoring may be less tailored to individual needs
Might complicate confidentiality for participants Could pose scheduling challenges due to varied scheduling needs Is dependent on good group dynamics, which can be tough if issues like competition arise |
Group Mentoring: 5 Tips to Help Your Facility Succeed
Ready to add this effective approach to mentoring as part of your onboarding process? Here are five best practices to consider.
1. Establish Goals and Expectations Early
Goals provide the direction needed to make mentoring meaningful. Establishing them early can help expedite the program’s impact.
Goals considerations:
- Determine how to evidence better incorporation of best practices and evidence-based approaches in participants’ delivery of nursing care.
- Aspire for increased staff engagement with leadership initiatives, like involvement in committees or unit-specific quality improvement measures.
- Seek improved staff satisfaction and optimized organizational culture.
- Aim for decreased turnover and better retention rates of new-graduate nurses.
Setting expectations underscores the unit’s cultural requirements for professional and respectful behaviors. Due to the prevalence of workplace bullying, it’s always important to re-establish the necessity of civility.
Expectations considerations:
- Outline communication standards and include them in the program’s introduction.
- Define behaviors that aren’t tolerated and may suspend or terminate participation in the program.
- Ensure participants document their obligation to maintain behavior standards to ensure program success.
2. Recruit Trusted Mentors and Incentivize Meaningful Participation
One of the benefits of group mentoring is the decreased strain on experienced staff and increased availability of those staff members for general workflow. However, the need for mentors is still paramount to a functional program.
Mentor recruitment considerations:
- Check in with nurse leaders (such as the charge nurse) and floor staff for mentor suggestions.
- Open the opportunity to people who are interested and vet the candidates using fair and established metrics.
- Treat mentoring as professional development hours, allowing mentors additional opportunities to achieve their clinical ladder goals.
- When possible, offer pay differentials during mentoring hours.
3. Develop the Mentoring System and Content
This is the framework that will guide professional growth for participants. Early development and standardization of the mentorship system reduces the burden on mentors while ensuring the quality of materials used.
Format and content considerations:
- Define the length and mode (or platform) of the program. Some programs have been designed to last 18 months, with face-to-face meetings bi-monthly and text check-ins during off-months.
- Implement actionable, achievable milestones for the mentee participants, such as better time management or certification achievement.
- Gather and vet educational resources and additional curriculum items such as short, informational videos, discussion questions, or ice breakers.
- List follow-up actions for both mentors and mentees to help maintain program flow.
4. Support the Process
Leadership support is key to a successful program. The group model is often a cost-saving strategy, but still requires some backing to ensure ongoing participation and success.
Support considerations:
- Facilitate meeting times by dedicating time throughout the pay schedule for paid mentoring/mentee time.
- Assist with the necessary resources that may be needed to meet program objectives.
- Identify back-up mentors in case there’s a scheduling conflict for the primary mentor.
- Ensure leadership availability in case the mentor requires further assistance or guidance.
5. Review Progress and Revise as Needed
As the culture and social demographics of new graduates shift, so should the content and vehicle of the program. For example, without feedback, nurse leaders may fail to realize that new graduates now often prefer text messaging, and may fail to integrate that crucial communication form into their mentoring platform.
Review and revision considerations:
- Track goal progress and examine patterns in the speed of outcome achievement or delay.
- Review goals for ongoing appropriateness and strategies for effectiveness.
- Act on opportunities to celebrate successes and recognize value-added participation.
Ready for More Cost Saving Strategies With Long-Term Workplace Benefits?
Group mentoring is just one of many ways to decrease institutional costs while maintaining outcome integrity. If you’re ready for more management tips, IntelyCare is consistently developing expert healthcare resources to help facilities reduce overhead while prioritizing the highest standards for their providers.