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Jennifer Jackson mentors new nurses with your help
The first year of a nurse’s career can be the toughest. But you’ve stepped up to help them thrive and continue to provide great care to patients in our community.
With your gift, Mercy Health Foundation Greater Cincinnati has been working to support and retain new nurses with a mentoring program.
“Like many places the turnover for first year nurses was very high,” said Jen Jackson, chief nursing officer for Mercy Health's West Hospital. “Research has shown that mentoring can have a significant impact on retention.”
The final event of the one-year program focuses on a “bedside to global practice” topic.
“It helps them see how to move beyond that first-year work to focus more on a long-term career,” Jen said. “Thanks to the support of donors, we were able to bring in a nationally-known speaker—Donna Cardillo—for the final session. Now in particular is an incredibly challenging time for new nurses. This speaker did an excellent job of giving them advice on how to carry on in the next year.”
Jen said the retention program is making a difference.
“It is hard to keep workers in health care right now. With programs like this, the staff feels supported and can understand that while we can’t make everyone well and send them home, we can be a key piece in their care."
“I’m so grateful the Mercy Health Foundation donors funded this piece of nursing education. Without the help of donors, we would not have been able to do this for our nurses.”