on from school to hospital is mentoring. Fairview University Medical Center in Minneapolis has established a detailed mentoring program. They pair experienced nurses with first year hires to help the nurses develop the real-life skills they need, to provide extra education, and give emotional support. They consider this a formal post-baccalaureate program, and it is open to those who have graduated from an RN as well as BSN programs. Nurses who are changing specialties are also eligible (Meyers, 2005).
             Their approach is based on the fact that nurses aged 24 or younger change jobs at a 31% frequency rate. Unfortunately that pattern persists for a while; the turnover rate is 28% for nurses aged 25 to 34 (Meyers, 2005). The people at Fairview concluded that the pace of work is so high in today's hospitals, and the turnover rate for patients so high because of shortened stays, that nurses don't have as much opportunity to learn on the job their first year of working. Typically, co-workers do not have the time to teach them what they know. This means that new nurses are just thrown into their new jobs to sink or swim. Far too many do not successfully transition from school to job (Meyers, 2005). Fairfield's program helps new nurses through this transition.
             The Fairfield program consists of more than just emotional support. It includes online class work, awareness of how cultural diversity can affect nursing care, development of leadership skills, and honing of clinical judgment. The participants must complete assigned reading and answer questions, all geared toward developing that all-important clinical judgment. The program has shown a decrease in job turnover, better job satisfaction and higher nursing skills among those who have completed the program (Meyers, 2005). One of the serious drawbacks of the program, however, is that so few
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