Nurse Residency Research

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Nursing is a field that has grown tremendously in recent years and will only continue to grow as time goes on. Currently, nurses are being asked to care for more patients at a time that are high acuity and think more critically in providing care. In order for nurses to be able to perform his/her job safely and efficiently he/she must be confident, knowledgeable and typically have some experience with their skills. “New graduates are now the largest source of registered nurses available for recruitment in the nation, facing difficult psychological and intellectual challenges as they adapt to their new careers” (Welding, 2011). The problems that organizations and facilities are facing is that new graduate nurses are in a transition phase …show more content…

They are easily constructed due to the vast array of facilities that have already implemented nurse residency programs (NRP) and are easy to implement once a plan has been established and set in place. The research that has already been conducted has also aided many facilities in constructing and implementing programs. The two challenges or hurdles that were originally of greatest concern with nurse residency programs were time and money. Money was of the biggest concern: how much will it cost to construct such a program, how much money will the organization lose to implementing the program or will it lose money at all? As far as time is concerned, there is concern that it will take time to properly train preceptors/mentors for the role of the preceptor in nurse residency programs; it is also a concern that nurses will be on “orientation” longer therefore they will not be able to be considered as another nurse when morning and night assignments are being made. There were many questions that surrounded the idea of nurse residency programs. However, these have proved to no longer be a concern with nurse residency programs. In fact, such programs have proved to increase confidence, knowledge, experience and skills all the while increasing retention and job satisfaction and decreasing turnover …show more content…

Not many NRPs have failed; however, when they do, it is often because it was not well planned out and was not ready to be implemented at the time it was initiated. When developing a program it is important to do extensive research and develop a program that is reliable, realistic and valid to the specific organization. The content of the program must be specific to the organization and even the unit or specialty of the unit or organization. Once the content has been decided on, the length of the program should be determined. Research shows that most successful programs are twelve months in length; this is the standard length of most nurse residency programs. According to Varner and Leeds there are three phases involved in nurse residency programs: phase 1, orientation; phase 2, transition; phase 3, transformation; and phase 4, exploration (2012). The first phase, orientation, consists of online courses including content on: med-surg, critical care, emergency, maternity, behavioral health, and peri-op. The second phase, transition, focuses on transitional topics and support from the preceptor. The third phase, transformation, focuses on leadership topics and continued support from the preceptor. The fourth phase, exploration, is voluntary and is completed in the second year; it includes

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