Mentoring and Support for Underrepresented Nursing Faculty: An Integrative Research Review.

BACKGROUND: Nursing faculty members may need several mentors to succeed in scholarly productivity, career development, work-life balance, and socialization in the academy. Underrepresented (UR) faculty report additional challenges to success. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to search the literature for best practices in mentoring UR faculty. METHODS: An integrative review was conducted to identify best and evidence-based practices for mentoring UR faculty, including gender, sexual minority, race, ethnicity, and geographic remoteness (rural). Fifteen articles were rated on evidence and methodological quality. RESULTS: Successful mentorship programs include honest communication, including all stakeholders in forming a mentoring program, goals and activities that come from the mentees, and guaranteed resources. CONCLUSIONS: Underrepresented nursing faculty may benefit from formal mentoring programs, but more research is needed.

Taking charge of the challenge: factors to consider in taking your first nurse practitioner job.

PURPOSE: To describe factors that ensure a smooth transition from nurse practitioner (NP) student to independent NP during the first year of practice. DATA SOURCES: Two contrasting case examples, the authors' experiences, and selected professional literature. CONCLUSIONS: Key points to consider upon searching or taking a first NP job include patient, colleague, and clinic factors. Patient factors include mix of patient presentations, complexity of patient presentations, insurance status, and population. Colleague factors include mentorship, charting, mix of providers, and availability of providers. Perhaps most importantly, clinic factors include productivity expectations, practice mission, charting systems, on-call requirements, supervision of other staff, and teaching status. Together, these factors can largely determine whether an NP's days are satisfying or frustrating in a new job. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The transition from NP student to independent NP can be daunting. Although nursing schools and practice sites have responsibilities to ensure the transition is smooth, the new NP is ultimately responsible for the transition.