The increasing shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the healthcare environment has an impact that is seen on a national level. The current shortage is different from those in years past, as more RNs are leaving the bedside and assuming other roles in nursing. Factors such as increased levels of stress, heavier workloads, higher acuities, and reduced resources have caused nurses to leave bedside nursing.

The purpose of this project was to assess the perceptions of new graduate nurses and staff nurses of mentoring and the need for a mentoring culture in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Survey results showed that both groups of nurses valued mentoring in their nursing practice and expressed similar characteristics. It is assumed that by developing a mentoring culture in a PICU, new graduate nurses would become competently skilled practitioners who remain at the bedside. Recruitment and replacement costs would decrease, and overall patient outcomes would increase.