Poster: Communication strategies for the school nurse mentor: A pilot training program

Mentorship has widespread support among many disciplines for the impact on improved job satisfaction, decreased job turnover and decreased costs to organizations. Ongoing support through mentorship is critical to nurses transitioning to a new role and nurse mentors must be prepared for the role with relevant education tailored to their needs . Though literature describing training programs for mentors is limited, some studies have reported an increase in confidence among mentors after training. In addition, improved mentoring skills (that includes communication) is in literature. In one large urban school district in Ohio, a school nurse, mentorship program was developed and implemented to assist new nurses in their transition to school health. Since no formal mentor training existed within the school district that employs this DNP nurse executive student, plans to conduct a pilot study to measure school nurse, mentor confidence after completion of an educational module on communication skills for the mentor were initiated. The study utilized a pre and post-survey design to measure the impact of the training program