Felecia West, M.S.N., R.N., and Alexis White, M.S.N., R.N., both say that tremendous mentors played a major role in their own success as nurse leaders today.
That’s why they partnered with the Mentor Advisory Committee to develop a formal nurse mentor program framework at Sibley Memorial Hospital. It’s also why they and the committee continued planning and implementation of the program despite the ever-growing demands the COVID-19 pandemic put on everyone — especially nurses and other health care providers.
“In the midst of the pandemic, it became clear that mentorship and support are needed even more than when we put the framework together,” says White, who is the director of Women’s and Infants’ Services at Sibley.
After a year of planning every aspect, from the application and review process to a structured curriculum for participants and finally to metrics for success, White and West, who is Sibley’s director of behavioral health, aging and special programs, say they were thrilled to welcome their first cohort of mentors and mentees in spring of 2022.
The inaugural cohort included 10 pairs of mentors and mentees, all of whom had to apply to participate and were selected by the Mentor Advisory Committee. They come from all over the hospital and include nurse leaders at every career stage — from clinical nurses at the bedside to nursing directors.
“The term nurse leader can apply to any frontline nurse,” says White. “You can be a leader no matter what role you are currently in, and that’s why this program serves all levels of nursing.”
Mentors and mentees were paired together based on their professional and personal interests as shared during the application process. Each mentor-mentee pair meets for an hour each month. In addition, the framework includes a calendar of professional development opportunities for the cohort, including sessions on topics such as communication or conflict management. According to West, creating a cohort of mentors and mentees means that each participant can grow their professional network in several ways during the program.
The curriculum for the mentorship program was developed using several existing resources — including information and material from a mentorship program for new managers that is offered by the Johns Hopkins Health System to all member hospitals. The team also conducted a literature review to be sure that the program’s design was based on the evidence and encompassed best practices for these programs both within the health system and beyond.
The framework includes frequent touchpoints with participants during mentor-mentee meetings and cohort meetups and will ask participants to take a survey at the conclusion of the program to look for any opportunities to improve.
In addition, both leaders say they hope the program will grow larger over time. They note that the real measures of success are found in the hospital’s units. According to West, a successful mentor program will help the hospital “retain great nurses. Not only that, but we will also see those nurses grow and develop into other roles in the organization.”
White adds that it would also be a major win if nurses who were once mentees join the program as mentors in the future. “That would be a great level of success — if you thought it was so valuable to you that you want to serve nursing in that same way.”
“Nurses can choose to go wherever they want to,” says West. “We want to develop our nurses, encourage and support them right here at Sibley and help them build the professional relationships and get the professional development they need for success.”
