New graduate nurses encounter "transition shock" when they enter the workplace, especially in acute care settings such as hospitals. New graduate nurses have a difficult time transitioning into the work environment because they are unprepared by their academic training for the realities they will face and they often don't have the proper support in place to guide them through the transition. This leads to a high attrition rate of up to 30% within the first 18 months of employment which costs hospitals and health care facilities. High nurse turnover of new graduate nurses who aren't prepared for the complexities of clinical practice affect the quality of care provided. Patient outcomes are negatively affected because it often leaves hospitals dealing with a shortage of experienced nurses, which they compensate for by having high patient to nurse ratios. New graduate nurses must develop the necessary critical thinking skills to handle higher acuity patients and difficult situations, develop confidence in their clinical skills, and adapt to peer relationships. One solution to the "transition shock" that new graduate nurses face is the implementation of nurse residency programs. Nurse residency programs are shown to help new graduates have a better transition into the workplace and increase nurse retention. This paper discusses the problem of new graduate nurse turnover, the benefits of nurse residency programs, and the numerous research studies which have been done showing the success of nurse residency programs on new nurse graduate retention and job satisfaction. It also discusses how to implement a nurse residency program and monitor and evaluate its success.

In this comprehensive resource, nursing staff development expert Jim Hansen, MSN, RN-BC, provides instruction and tools to plan, justify, and structure a nurse residency program that develops and retains new nurses through their first year

The organization that served as the study site for this project has two nurse residency programs that compete for resource allocation, space, informational materials, and human resources. The DNP project was conducted to combine the programs to eliminate waste and ensure the combined program met with the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education standards for accreditation of entry-to-practice nurse residency programs. A literature review was used to evaluate practice themes for a formal residency program, and Benner’s novice to expert theory was chosen to guide the program development. A team of nurse educators and managers met via teleconferencing to review the curricula of both programs and compare these to the best practice literature. The teams met over several weeks and achieved consensus on the structure and process for a single best practice nurse residency program. The project had the potential to provide a developmental framework for advanced practice residency and interprofessional trainee programs. Aligning the two programs assured best evidence-based practice and conservation of resources. The goal was to improve new graduate retention within an extensive federal system. Keywords: new nurse satisfaction, BSN residency program recruitment and retention, baccalaureate nurse satisfaction, new nurse shortage, new nurse satisfaction, nurse turnover

The Future of Nursing explores how nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system. At more than 3 million in number, nurses make up the single largest segment of the health care work force. They also spend the greatest amount of time in delivering patient care as a profession. Nurses therefore have valuable insights and unique abilities to contribute as partners with other health care professionals in improving the quality and safety of care as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted this year. Nurses should be fully engaged with other health professionals and assume leadership roles in redesigning care in the United States. To ensure its members are well-prepared, the profession should institute residency training for nurses, increase the percentage of nurses who attain a bachelor's degree to 80 percent by 2020, and double the number who pursue doctorates. Furthermore, regulatory and institutional obstacles-including limits on nurses' scope of practice-should be removed so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses' training, skills, and knowledge in patient care. In this book, the Institute of Medicine makes recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing.

Abstract: This project was conducted to examine learning needs, satisfaction, and turnover intention before and after completion of the Nurse Residency Program for new graduate nurses hired at the University of California (UC) San Diego Medical Center. Research has shown the necessity and importance of the implementation of a nurse residency program, not only for new graduate nurses, but for the healthcare institution as well. A convenience sample of new graduate nurses participating in the Cohort Eight Nurse Residency Program were surveyed before the start and following a 6 month program. The data suggests that after participating in the 6 month long Nurse Residency Program, new graduate nurses were apt to be more knowledgeable on skill acquisition, more satisfied in UC San Diego Medical Center with fewer uncertainties in their professional practice, and their turnover intention had decreased from the presurvey results.

"New graduate nurse residency programs' primary function is to provide new graduates with clinical experience and bridge the gap between student and competent registered nurse (Walsh, 2018). While the focus of these programs is on teaching new graduates, a gap in practice has been identified when it comes to the education of the nurses that are training these new graduates. The purpose of this program evaluation was to increase preceptor feelings of preparedness for the precepting role, as well as increase preceptor education attendance rates to at least 50% of eligible nurses. This was a program evaluation with a pre-/post-test design that evaluated the impact of preceptor education in 10 registered nurses. Participants submitted surveys to evaluate their feelings of support and preparedness for their educator roles before and after the educational presentation. There was a statistically significant increase in post-education scores (M=11.2, SD=2.15) when compared to pre-education scores (M=6.6, SD=2.8); t(9) = -5.81, p=0.00025597. Furthermore, 100% of respondents had a higher total score on the post-survey than the pre-survey with a mean difference of +4.6 points +/-2.5 (SD), indicating that they felt more supported and prepared to act as preceptors after the education. By offering a preceptor education curriculum that is easily accessible, organizations will see increased attendance rates and therefore higher feelings of support and preparedness from nurse preceptors. These preceptors will then be able to teach and empower new RNs on their journey to practice, offering a smoother and safer transition to professional independence, and decreasing burnout rates and turnover costs to the healthcare organization (Trepanier et al., 2012)"--Abstract.