Virtual mentoring in nursing education: A scoping review of the literature

Background and objective: Large numbers of nurse educators are retiring, creating a paucity of experienced advisors and research investigators to mentor nurse educators. The guiding of doctoral students in nursing is at a demanding crossroad. A new mentoring approach is needed within nursing education to support doctoral students who wish to transition to nursing education and current nurse educators who wish to further the science of nursing education. A scoping review was conducted to determine what is currently known from the existing literature about virtual mentoring in nursing education.Methods: Literature published between 2012 and 2017 was reviewed from two electronic databases using the key words virtual mentoring, e-mentoring, cyber mentoring, online mentoring, tele-mentoring, nursing education, and college or university or higher education. The framework from Arksey and O’Malley was utilized for this study.Results: Two themes have been identified: Technological Support for the Virtual Mentoring Role and Evolving Virtual Mentoring Programs in Nursing Education.Conclusions: The available current research fails to adequately answer the research question. Further research into doctoral nursing graduates lived experience of a formal virtual mentoring program and building upon the virtual mentoring experience is needed.