Nursing leaders participating in a workshop learned how to strengthen school mentorship programs to improve graduation and National Council Licensure Exam passage rates among underrepresented students enrolled in nursing programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN)-serving institutions.

AARP and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sponsored the Mentoring for Success with Schools of Nursing workshop Sept. 10-11, 2024, at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

While the Campaign’s mentor-training workshops have reached nursing programs at more than 100 schools, this gathering was the first time that leaders from HBCUs, HSIs, and AIAN’s met together in person. Attendees also included leaders from the Campaign’s state-based coalition, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and several national nursing organizations.

The Campaign and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health and Health Resources and Services Administration have collaborated since 2018 to improve mentorship programs among  underrepresented students.

Many students from backgrounds underrepresented in nursing face social and academic barriers that make it difficult to stay in school. The six-year graduation rates for first-time, full-time undergraduate students who began their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree-granting institution lag for Hispanic (54%), Black (40%), and American Indian/Alaska Native students (39%) compared with Asian (74%) and white students (64%).

Mentoring programs are a proven strategy to improve retention and promote academic success, thereby increasing representation in the nursing workforce and advancing health equity in rural and underserved communities.

In addition, mentoring programs can result in more students graduating and transitioning into academic and practice settings, thereby combatting persistent nursing workforce shortages undermining care.  

The First Day

The first day of the workshop covered key topics relevant to nursing schools, including NCLEX outcomes and strategies, navigating public and institutional policies, and positioning students as future faculty. Participants learned strategies for submitting effective grant proposals, explored review criteria, and discussed common application mistakes. Participants learned fundraising and grant writing skills. They developed preliminary grant applications using tips and suggestions from facilitators.

To help the schools improve their NCLEX passage rates, a representative from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing discussed the results of the Next Generation NCLEX in a panel with nursing leaders, who shared their approaches to increasing student success in preparing for and passing the exam.

Deans and faculty explored early mentoring and recruitment opportunities to develop future faculty members and prepare students for faculty careers. A nursing faculty shortage exacerbates the nursing shortage: nursing schools turned away 65,766 qualified applicants in 2023 due to a shortage of faculty available to teach them.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, there are nearly 2,000 full-time faculty vacancies. Estimates project one-third of the nursing faculty workforce in baccalaureate and graduate programs would retire by 2025. As a result, participants learned strategies to tap into their current students as future faculty.

Day two of the workshop focused on providing mentoring refreshers tailored to the needs of AIAN, HBCU and HSI faculty. Each of the three breakout sessions were conducted as facilitated discussions to engage faculty in dialogues designed to meet the needs of students in their unique programs.

AIAN Breakout

The AIAN breakout session provided an overview, analysis, and assessment of the AIAN mentoring curriculum. The session highlighted successful mentoring programs and, using case studies, offered participants a framework for effective curriculum implementation. Additionally, participants explored practice partnerships that support academic success, highlighting how schools can collaborate with Indian Health Services, health systems and other partners

HBCU BREAKOUT

Thirty-nine participants represented HBCUs. Each nursing school described their student mentoring programs and shared their success stories and challenges. Following this dialogue, participants engaged in a role-play of pre-planned scenarios related to common issues students may experience. These included fostering mentoring relationships, establishing mentoring agreements, mentor-mentee matching, and dealing with students’ academic challenges. These scenarios enabled faculty to apply their understanding of successful mentoring practices to familiar situations. The session concluded with two pre-recorded videos featuring students who described how participating in mentoring programs benefited them.

HSI Breakout

The HSI breakout session consisted of four presentations about strategies for nursing students’ success: enrollment and recruitment, collaborations and partnerships, the CliftonStrengths assessment tool to help mentees discover their strengths to maximize their potential, and the circle of mentorship. The last session discussed using mentorship programs to recruit and retain faculty. Participants also discussed other strategies to recruit and retain faculty, such as ensuring schools offer competitive compensation packages, provide education and research opportunities and promote nurse well-being and work-life balance. New faculty also can apply to participate in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Diversity Leadership Institute.  

Evaluation

One hundred forty-four participants attended the meeting. Seventy-two percent completed the workshop program evaluation; 82% rated the workshop as excellent and said the objectives were achieved.

Participants rated the conference objective most highly (90% excellent): “Compare and contrast cultural frameworks that enhance the mentoring of students from underrepresented backgrounds, ensuring everyone feels included.” This rating was evidence of the success of the workshop’s focus on mentoring for the success of underrepresented students.

Respondents identified the following recommendations they would like to incorporate to improve the mentoring programs at their universities:

• More structured support: Mentees or mentors suggested that their program could benefit from clearer guidelines or more structured sessions.
• Additional resources: More resources, such as workshops, mentor training, or opportunities for mentees to connect with other participants, are needed.
• Better mentor-mentee matching: Some responses recommended refining the process for pairing mentors with mentees to ensure they are well suited in terms of personality or goals.

Finally, a recurring theme was how the mentoring relationship contributed to personal and professional development. Mentees shared how they felt more prepared for challenges they faced in life or work, and thanks to their mentor’s guidance, they achieved their professional or personal milestones.

Workshop Takeaways

The workshop offered participants opportunities to network, share strategies, and explore solutions. For example, nursing educators from two different schools discussed the possibility of sending qualified nursing applicants that were turned away from one school due to space constraints to the other school, which had openings. A nursing leader expressed support for a statewide initiative to create a centralized database or use the NursingCAS system to match qualified nurse applicants with available spots at schools, ensuring capacity limits do not prevent qualified candidates from enrolling in nursing school.

In addition, AARP will host a 2025 grant-writing workshop. This workshop will further AARP’s efforts to improve student outcomes, address the nursing faculty shortage and expand nursing program capacity.