Abstract

High turnover among new graduate nurses (NGNs) in acute care contributes to staffing shortages, increased costs, and workforce instability. Although national first-year turnover rates range from 15% to 30%, turnover among nurses with less than one year of experience at the project organization reached 72.48%. Evidence supports structured mentorship as an effective strategy to improve transition-to-practice outcomes. This Doctor of Nursing Practice quality improvement project evaluated whether a 12-week structured mentorship program, compared with standard onboarding alone, improved perceived support, confidence, job satisfaction, and transition-to-practice outcomes for NGNs. Guided by the JHNEBP Model and Kotter’s 8-Step Change Theory, the project was implemented within an existing nurse residency program at a large acute care hospital. Ten NGNs participated in structured mentor pairings and six biweekly mentorship sessions. Outcomes were evaluated using the Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey© 2023, mentor logs, attendance records, and participant feedback. Six participants completed the intervention, and three completed matched pre- and post-surveys. Resilience and organizational commitment increased by 0.67 points, while perceived stress decreased from 4.00 to 2.67. Participants also reported improved confidence, support, communication, and job satisfaction. Findings suggest that structured mentorship is a feasible, sustainable strategy that can be integrated into existing nurse residency programs to strengthen transition-to-practice outcomes and support retention efforts for NGNs.

Date of publication

Summer 7-30-2026

Document Type

DNP Scholarly Project

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5123

Committee members

Gina Nickels-Nelson, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice

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