The Implementation of the UHC/AACN New Graduate Nurse Residency Program in a Community Hospital

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnur.2010.10.013Get rights and content

Section snippets

The University Hospital Consortium model

In March 2009, St Joseph’s Hospital joined the University Hospital Consortium (UHC)/American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Nurse Residency Program, which provided an evidence-based curriculum and a database repository for comparison. The curriculum was developed by clinical and academic nursing partners from the UHC network as a research initiative. The UHC curriculum supports the essentials for practice as defined through the Magnet recognition program and many of the original 14

UHC/AACN program structure

UHC uses a descriptive, comparative design and convenience sample of all new graduate residents hired to evaluate the program. Specific program characteristics for each participating site are reported among the facilities in the study to disseminate best practices as one of the benefits of participation. The program was originally developed as collaboration between an academic hospital setting and an affiliated school of nursing, and values partnership in all relationships as essential.

Program evaluation

To evaluate outcomes of the residency program, all residents were asked to enroll as a participant in the UHC/AACN multisite research study; however, enrollment into the database was voluntary. Residents enter data directly through a password-protected portal on the UHC Web site. Approval was obtained from St Joseph’s Hospital Institutional Review Board. Demographic data were collected on all residents and entered into the UHC database by the residency coordinator (the CNS). Residents were

Data analysis and outcomes

The Casey Fink2 Graduate Nurse Experience Survey comprises 4 sections including demographics, self-rating of skill competency, self-reporting confidence and comfort, and one open-ended question. The validity of the tool has been established by review of expert nurse directors and educators and has been shown to have a Cronbach alpha of .89. The survey measures 5 subscales: stress, perceived support, organizing and prioritizing, communication and leadership, and professional satisfaction.

Summary

The UHC/AACN Nurse Residency Program is currently operational in 61 hospitals across the United States. St Joseph’s Hospital has increased the new graduate retention rate to 100% in the first year since transition to the UHC/AACN Nurse Residency model from the reported 40% rate in 2007 prior to the initiation of the program. Residency programs do account for some additional cost to the traditional orientation programs usually offered to new graduates. However, Krugman and colleagues18 found

First page preview

First page preview
Click to open first page preview

References (18)

  • D. Halfer et al.

    Graduate nurse perception of the work experience

    Nurs Econ

    (2006)
  • K. Casey et al.

    The graduate nurse experience

    J Nurs Adm

    (2004)
  • R. Pine et al.

    Return on investment: benefits and challenges of a nurse residency program

    Nurs Econ

    (2007)
  • P.C. Beecroft et al.

    RN internship: outcomes of a one-year pilot program

    J Nurs Adm

    (2001)
  • M. Schoessler et al.

    The first 18 months in practice: a developmental transition model for the newly graduated nurse

    J Nurses Staff Dev

    (2006)
  • M.R. Poyton et al.

    Nurse residency program implementation: The Utah experience

    J Healthc Manag

    (2007)
  • J.D. Berkow et al.

    Assessing new graduate nurse performance

    J Nurs Adm

    (2008)
  • C.B. Jones

    Revisiting nurse turnover costs: Adjusting for inflation

    J Nurs Adm

    (2008)
  • S. Li et al.

    Report from the 2004 national survey on elements of nursing education

    National Council of State Board of Nursing NCSBN Research Brief

    (2006)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (13)

  • Interventions to support graduate nurse transition to practice and associated outcomes: A systematic review

    2021, Nurse Education Today
    Citation Excerpt :

    The most common validated tool used was the Casey Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey (Casey and Fink, 2006). Only a small number of studies clearly reported data collection at multiple data points (Aggar et al., 2017; Aggar et al., 2018; Friday et al., 2015; Krugman et al., 2006; Kulka et al., 2018; Lima et al., 2016; Maxwell, 2011; Meyer et al., 2017; Pelletier et al., 2018; Phillips et al., 2017; Sledge et al., 2016; Spector et al., 2015; M. B. Strauss, 2009; Williams et al., 2008). Few authors reported on the collection of data across multiple years (Beecroft et al., 2006; Casse, 2019; Goode et al., 2013; Hosking et al., 2016; Slate et al., 2018).

  • Effective orientation programs for new graduate nurses: A systematic review

    2019, Enfermeria Clinica
    Citation Excerpt :

    Certain studies employed instruments designed by the investigators to evaluate the orientation programs. Aspects evaluated were wide-ranging, including satisfaction,9,10,14,16,17 cost savings,10,13,18,19 time effectiveness,10,19 critical thinking,11,15 retention and turnover,9,12,14,16–21 performance,14 effectiveness,8,19 confidence,17,21 and engagement (Table 3).9,16,17 Orientation time given to NGNs is a critical feature for analysis, as the length thereof can affect costs incurred and results derived from the program.

  • The Effectiveness of Nurse Residency Programs on Retention: A Systematic Review

    2017, AORN Journal
    Citation Excerpt :

    This retention rate is within the range reported nationally (73% to 82%) for all nurses.30 Maxwell28 and Pine and Tart3 reported retention rates for two hospitals that implemented the UHC/AACN NRP, and both had improved retention after implementation. Sample sizes of graduate nurse participants varied.

View all citing articles on Scopus

This work was sponsored by a grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the Keough Nursing Research Center at Saint Joseph’s Hospital.

The author has nothing to disclose.

View full text