Why rn residency program

Ellis Medicine offers a wide range of medical, surgical and support services at locations throughout the Capital District. Ellis Medicine offers a yearlong nurse residency program that provides the graduate with a supportive transitional path from novice to competent practitioner through a variety of nursing educational experiences.

The Nurse Residency Program is designed to ensure that every GN is provided with structured opportunities to engage with multiple collaborative team experts to enhance their personal situational awareness and provide quality patient care.

The education offered during the residency program will include clinically oriented classes, use of high fidelity simulation and guidance on completing an evidence based practice project.

The focus of these classes will be on critical thinking skills, interdisciplinary teamwork and communication, prioritization and delegation, quality indicators and the patient experience, and advance in nursing professional practice. All graduate nurses and registered nurses, with less than one year's experience who are hired at Ellis Medicine, are automatically placed in the Residency Program.

Graduate Nurses beginning their careers at Ellis Medicine will be broken into three cohorts depending on what time of the year they start. My favorite thing about my job is knowing that I am doing something to help others, and that I have a job that truly matters. The hospital where I currently work employs full time nurses 36 hours per week. Part-time nurses work two 12 hour shifts per week, and PRN nurses work 24 hours in one month. My typical day is not having a typical day.

I get to work around , and go to our nursing break room to see my assignment for the shift. At 7 AM I get a report from the previous nurse, and from there my day can turn any which way.

Other days I go 13 hours without sitting down. There are shifts where all the patients in the unit are considered stable, and other shifts where we crack open the code cart and bring someone back to life. The next shift arrives at 7 PM, and giving report to the new nurse can take anywhere from 10 minutes to over an hour. I typically get home between 8 and 9 PM. Every single day is different, which is one of the things I like most about my job. To be a successful ICU nurse you need to be team oriented.

Everyone needs help at some point during their shift, so being a team player is crucial. Critical thinking plays another large part of critical care nursing. Most patients have a lot of things going on, so really being able to put puzzle pieces together will help make you successful. Nurse residency programs benefit the nurses who participate in them as well as the hospitals that offer them.

While nursing school attempts to replicate and prepare students for the hospital setting, healthcare professionals know better than anyone that a classroom is no replacement for the real thing. Instead of dropping new nurses into the middle of the pool and hoping they learn how to stay afloat, residency programs provide them with the skills they need to swim.

Clinical judgment is a must-have for any healthcare provider. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to develop clinical judgment in the classroom setting, meaning a nurse only begins honing this critical skill once they start working. Residency programs help new employees improve their critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills before they begin practicing independently, empowering nurses to trust their clinical abilities and improve patient outcomes.

Burnout has been a major problem within healthcare organizations for years. Burnout can cause nurses to leave their jobs and directly impact their ability to provide quality care. Some of the key causes of burnout, including high stress and lack of support, can be mitigated by nurse residency programs that facilitate mentorship and collaboration within nursing departments.

While employee turnover is a significant problem within the healthcare industry as a whole, it is particularly prevalent among first-year nurses, who often begin their clinical work without the skills or support they need to succeed.

This helps institutions save on the costs associated with recruiting and onboarding replacement staff as well as the cost of hiring interim contract employees. A confident nurse will call a doctor when something looks wrong and trust their instincts when they believe a patient needs a new course of treatment — and it can mean the difference between a positive and negative outcome for a patient.

Simply put, when nurses come to their jobs equipped with the knowledge, clinical judgment, and confidence necessary for success, their patients receive higher-quality care. Nurse administrators must consider several disadvantages of nurse residency programs in addition to the advantages. No, nurse residency programs are not required. However, nurse residency programs have increased in popularity in recent years as administrators have become familiar with the benefits associated with these programs.

There are many benefits of nurse residency programs for new grads, including the opportunity to receive focused professional development and build on what they were taught in school. Residency programs also help new nurses address many of the challenges they face when they enter the healthcare field, including difficulty adjusting to a high-stress work environment, prioritizing numerous demands, and managing a surge of diverse emotions, including insecurity and fear.

These challenges include:. To reap the full benefits of these programs, hospitals must implement robust internal assessments. Get the latest articles straight to your inbox and better navigate the ever-changing healthcare landscape. Healthcare organizations must consider all of the pros and cons of nurse residency programs before deciding to implement one. Get Started. What are RN Residency Programs?