Closing the Revolving Door: Enhanced Orientation and Mentoring of New Nurses to Decrease Turnover in Long Term Care

Background: New nurse turnover is a global issue and in the United States the cost to onboard a bedside registered nurse averages $40,038.This money is lost if the nurse decides to leave the job. Losses attributed to nurse turnover can cost a hospital $3.6 million to $6.5 million annually, and the problem is getting worse. Many studies have found that mentorship is effective in new nurse retention. Objectives: To implement mentorship and preceptorship at a long-term care facility to see if it will improve the high turnover of new nurses there. Methods: The project is a quality improvement (QI) project, pre- and post-survey design, that followed the “Plan-Do-Study-Act” (PDSA) framework. The Intention to stay or leave survey measured the intention to stay or leave their position at the beginning and end of the mentorship program. The intervention was a 3-month designed preceptorship/mentorship program. Result: Positive results were noted, showing that close mentoring, support, and guidance helped retain new nurses. For the question on intent to stay for 12 months there were 2 agree or strongly agree pre-intervention and 4 agree or strongly agree post-intervention showing improvement in the primary concern, similar positive results were found in the other 6 questions as well. Conclusion: Structured preceptorship/mentorship for at least three months is beneficial to retaining new nurses. It is imperative for healthcare facilities to push the idea of providing the support and guidance needed for new nurses to feel valued, appreciated, and confident in their skills