Mentoring as a retention strategy in a diverse, multicultural, urban associate degree nursing program

Nursing faculty are expending considerable resources to recruit qualified students. Retention of these valuable students should be a priority to meet the growing need for nurses in a changing health care environment. However, this has been a challenge due to a variety of variables inherent in the nontraditional student and in nursing education. A mentoring program was developed in a diverse, multicultural, urban community college. The significance of this enrichment program in improving retention rate and psychological outcomes for first-semester clinical nursing students was identified.