Using a mentorship model to prepare newly graduated nurses for competency.

This research was conducted to study the level of nursing competency of newly graduated nurses after using a mentor-ship model. Nineteen newly graduated nurses worked with a trained mentor. Before the experiment, newly graduated nurses were evaluated regarding their nursing competency by head nurses two times, with a 1-month interval between evaluations. Select experienced nurses were prepared in mentoring roles. The mentors and the newly graduated nurses worked together for 1 month. After that, newly graduated nurses were evaluated for nursing competency by head nurses again. All data were analyzed by median, quartile deviation, and Wilcoxon signed ranks test. The level of nursing competency of newly graduated nurses was higher using the mentor model. This finding showed that the mentor program increased the nursing competency of newly graduated nurses. Copyright 2009, SLACK Incorporated.