New Nurses Connect With Mentors Through Academy Of Medical-Surgical Nurses' Online Mentoring Program

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 25 Jun 2008 - 14:00 PDT

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Graduating from nursing school and successfully transitioning to the nursing workforce is a difficult task these days. Research shows new nurses who are able to connect with an experienced nurse mentor during this challenging period are more likely to stick with their new profession.

To help new nurses find mentors, the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) has launched an online component to its successful hospital mentoring program, "Nurses Nurturing Nurses" (N3). The online program connects a new nurse (the mentee) with an experienced nurse mentor, allowing the pair to communicate via e-mail and through AMSN chat rooms.

To participate in the program as a mentee, nurses must be members of AMSN and have less than two years of professional nursing experience. Those who are not AMSN members will have a chance to join the program - AMSN is offering five scholarships to potential mentees who are not members. Scholarship winners will receive a one-year membership in AMSN during which the new nurse can join the N3 mentoring program.

To be considered for a scholarship, potential mentees should send their name, e-mail and mailing address to phelpsg@ajj.com. AMSN will randomly select five scholarship winners and contact them at a later date.

"It's so important for the new nurse to have a supportive person to talk to, someone who has 'been there' and will help smooth the transition into nursing practice," said N3 Online Mentoring Program Coordinator Margie Escobio, BSN, RN, CMSRN.

Escobio added that offering the program online was a natural transition for the hospital-based mentoring program developed by AMSN in 2001. "Electronic communication allows busy professionals to transcend time and geography to form a mutually beneficial mentoring relationship," said Escobio.

Complete information about the N3 Online Mentoring Program and how to join AMSN is available on AMSN's Web site, http://www.medsurgnurse.org.

Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses