At a glance
6% vs 10%
turnover among mentoring participants against the wider workforce
350+
mentoring participants across the health system's programs
Every
meeting-feedback response in the provider and alumni programs, more than 30 in all, rated the meeting helpful
- Segment: Large regional health system, with a medical group spread across hundreds of locations
- Industry: Healthcare
- Location: United States
- Employees: More than 20,000
- Programs: Medical group employee mentoring, nurse residency, advanced practice provider mentoring, alumni mentoring for internal development courses
The Challenge
In the health system's medical group, mentoring had been run by hand for years, and it was not holding. An earlier program drew early enthusiasm, then lost momentum. Administrators could not easily follow participation past the first introduction or see who was still waiting for a mentor. With the medical group spread across hundreds of locations, the connections that mattered most crossed sites and teams, and those are the hardest to make by hand.
Advanced practice providers (APPs) had a different gap. Their support ended with onboarding, and an earlier mentoring program had only loose guardrails. New providers needed room to build confidence and talk through their professional direction as they settled into their specialties.
Each group needed mentoring built for it. One matching process for everyone would not fit nurses entering practice, new APPs and employees building toward their next role.
Why Chronus
The health system moved mentoring onto Chronus, rather than keep running it by hand, because one platform could give each program its own way of matching people.
- Each program matches its own way. Administrators pair nurse residents; medical group employees and APPs choose their own mentors.
- Recommendations guide the choice. Profile information and matching recommendations point people toward relevant experience and development interests.
- Administrators see who is waiting. Targeted messages reach employees who still need a match.
- Mentors start with a guide. Prepared conversation guides give APP mentors a place to begin, with room for each mentee's needs.
We used to do our mentoring work by hand. It's great to move to Chronus and use an application that makes the experience more user friendly.
Program development manager, process improvement
The Solution
Separate programs on one platform
The health system runs distinct programs for medical group employees, nurse residents, APPs and alumni of its internal development courses. Each program's leaders decide how participants join, how they choose partners and how they use mentoring resources. Nursing leaders tie mentoring to the health system's Magnet work, and the nurse residency runs as its own program so its participation stays identifiable for the ANCC practice transition accreditation the health system is pursuing.
Mentoring that picks up after onboarding
New APPs spend roughly the first half of their first year in onboarding, then move into mentoring for the rest of it. The first group included providers who had joined several months earlier, with later hiring groups following. Before launch, the APP lead had stakeholders review close to 30 conversation guides, grouped by topic. Alumni of the internal development courses get a mentoring period of more than six months, which carries their development past the classroom.
Platform nudges plus personal outreach
The medical group pairs platform messages with personal follow-up. An administrator uses matching recommendations and nudges people who are still waiting for a match. A mentoring mixer brought together more than 40 people, including senior leaders and a participant who shared her own experience.
The Impact
Mentoring participants stay
- 6% vs 10% turnover among more than 350 mentoring participants, against the wider workforce of more than 20,000
More medical group employees matched, and meetings that land
- From about 50 to 55+ enrolled employees with a match, while an administrator used recommendations and nudged those still waiting
- 25+ meeting evaluations rated very helpful or breakthrough, about half of them breakthrough
New providers supported past onboarding
- Every APP meeting-feedback response in one review, more than ten in all, rated the meeting helpful
Now that it's much more formal and user friendly, mentors have guides ready for them, instead of having to work out where to steer people.
Nurse practitioner and APP mentoring lead
Alumni keep developing after the classroom
- Every one of more than 20 meeting-feedback responses rated the meeting helpful
- 30+ connections in the program's early weeks, with more than 170 tasks completed from each pair's step-by-step plan and close to 30 meetings
