As the end of nursing school draws near, the fear of being all on my own with a patient load becomes more and more scary. Will I really be able to handle it without having a mental breakdown every day? It seems that hospitals are also considering this concern, as the reality of new graduate nurse "burnout" is becoming a problem for staffing and resources. More and more hospitals are turning to nurse residency programs to stall the increasing burnout rate. Some hospitals automatically enroll new graduate hires into the residency program, while others make it an optional position that is highly competitive and sought after.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has a great site (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education/nurseresidency.htm) for finding out more information on what hospitals offer a residency program as well as some of the benefits. One interesting statistic is that the retention rate is "94.4% - which can be contrasted with published reports indicating turnover rates of 30% in the first year of employment." Residency programs have also been found to reduce practice errors. If you want to make it in nursing, why not start out with better tools and resources?
Some of the benefits including in a nurse residency program include:
* Competitive salaries
* Transition from "novice" to "expert" nurse
* Extended preceptorship on unit* Specialty courses to increase knowledge and confidence
* Graduate nurse support meetings and resources* Great way to "get your foot in the door" at a magnet hospital (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education/pdf/ParticipatingResidencyPrograms.pdf is a current list of participating hospitals)
So if you feel that you are not quite ready to be all on your own as a new graduate nurse, consider the many nurse residency programs located throughout the country. After all, how can you go wrong with more support and more education?
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