By Sally Sapega
HUP nursing administrators Khiry Carter (left) and Janelle Harris
It’s not unusual for nurses with a few years’ experience to start looking for a new direction in their careers. Do they want to stay at the patient bedside? Would a research position fit them better? What about switching to an administrative role?
These paths aren’t always easy to navigate, though. That’s where HUP’s Clinical Nurse Mentorship Program comes in, matching nurses looking for guidance with nursing leaders who can help.
For Khiry Carter, MSN, now the nurse manager of two inpatient behavioral health units at HUP-Cedar, the “wish list” of potential career paths was very long. Working with Janelle Harris, MSN, clinical director of Advanced Medical Nursing at HUP, he narrowed it down to what he really wanted … and she helped him get there.
How It Started
HUP’s mentorship program grew out of Professional Development Career Trajectory Session events that Nursing’s Professional Development Core Council started offering several years ago. The 30-minute sessions provide nurses with the opportunity to meet with nursing leaders in different fields and ask questions, like, “What do you do in your position?” and “What kind of certification or advanced degree would I need for this role?”
The sessions continue to be well-received and appreciated, but “we found that some nurses were looking for a more enduring mentoring relationship,” said Beth Smith, MSN, NPD-BC, director of nursing professional development. “HUP has a long-standing history of mentorship and succession planning, and nurses expressed an ongoing need on where to start these discussions and what next steps to take to reach their professional goals.”
Angela O’Connor, MSN, who now works at Chester County Hospital, worked with Larissa Morgan, MSN, who is now a Talent Acquisition manager, to develop a formal clinical nurse mentorship program. They did literature searches, queried members from national Magnet distribution lists, and met with nurses to get feedback on what they wanted.
In 2019, the program kicked off with 25 pairs of mentors and mentees.
Pulling Together Pieces of the Puzzle
Harris, who has worked her way from nursing assistant to director during her 16 years at HUP, was among the first to volunteer. She understood the importance of a mentor to help guide a person’s career. HUP CEO Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, served as her preceptor when Harris was working on her master’s degree — Cunningham was then HUP’s chief nursing executive – and Harris continues to seek her advice.
“She pushed me in ways and made me realize a lot of my potential,” Harris said. “I'm forever grateful for her.”
When the mentoring program began, Carter was working in the Neurology unit on Silverstein 9 and had previously been a clinical nurse in a psychiatric facility. He had a passion for community nursing, and had also just been admitted to a Master of Science in nursing (MSN) program, but was still unsure in which direction to take his career.
“Should I go for education or administration? What would be the best way to advance myself professionally?” he thought at the time. “I wanted to use my knowledge to help my community.”
Through their monthly meetings, Harris helped Carter prioritize and then zero in on his goals.
Carter had done preventive health outreach in Black barbershops while in nursing school in Pittsburgh and wanted to implement something similar in Philadelphia, “in a community setting, away from a doctor’s office, with a focus on health disparities Black men face, such as high cholesterol and heart disease.”
Harris connected him with Penn Medicine Community Relations Manager Laura Lombardo, who encouraged him to apply for a Penn Medicine CAREs grant, which he was awarded in 2020 and used to hold several men’s health events with local churches and barbershops.
Once Carter decided, with Harris’ guidance, to switch his MSN studies toward nursing administration, she encouraged him to interview for open nursing leadership positions at HUP even when he was a long-shot candidate. Carter used the interviews to learn about different leadership positions and who hiring managers considered the ideal candidate. Harris also showed him other ways to get leadership experience, such as through Nursing’s shared governance councils. Carter became chair-elect of the Diversity and Inclusion Council, which taught him valuable administrative skills.
In the spring of 2021, when a leadership position opened in HUP-Cedar, all the pieces of his career “puzzle” were in place. He applied and this time landed the job.
“I always had confidence in myself, but I didn't know what all my options were,” Carter said. “I needed a person to help me connect the dots and that’s what the program provided. Janelle really helped me to lay out a strategic plan to pretty much achieve every goal that I that I set for myself.”
Carter wasn’t the only one to sing the mentorship program’s praises. In a post-mentorship survey, nurses commented, “It feels like therapy each time I am there,” and “It really helped to have a sounding board.”
Looking at all Carter was able to achieve, Harris calls herself “a proud mama” and says she’ll always be there to support him.
“Once a mentor, always a mentor,” Harris said. “Leadership is hard, especially when you’re new. Sometimes you just need somebody to tell you you're doing OK – you're doing the right thing.”
The mentorship program is currently led by Amanda C. Ward, BSN, Magnet coordinator, Andrea R. Blount, MPH, BSN, Patient Education specialist, and Michael Murphy, MSN, Nursing Professional Development specialist. The next Career Trajectory sessions will be held on May 18 and there will be a call for mentorship applications this month.