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Blog spotlight: People are talking...

Nurse Leader Weekly, November 16, 2009

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In one of our recent blog posts on the Leaders' Lounge, we talked about programs geared toward preparing and retaining nurses, especially new nursing graduates.

Studies have shown that up to 60% of new nurse graduates leave their first job within their first year, and many hospitals are focusing on ways to help new nurses through the difficult transition from nursing school to novice nurse to competent, confident practitioner.

Rapid City (SD) Regional Hospital is one facility looking to help its new grads succeed and remain with the organization. With the help of a recent grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Regional Hospital has launched a two-part program to provide guidance to new nurses.

The first part of the program offers extra opportunities to practice clinical skills, and the second part involves a year-long residency program.

This blog post received a wide range of comments, voicing all sorts of opinions on the issue.

Here are some of the comments:

"I feel as though many schools are in too much of a hurry to graduate nurses and don’t truly prepare them. I understand the shortage scenario but to not have them adequately prepared only causes confusion, disappointment and a hardship on the employers."

"As a full time nurse in Staff Development and part time adjunct faculty member, I strongly support thorough pre-licensure education, orientation programs, etc. However, the numbers being thrown around regarding this topic are often misleading … If we are ever going to get a true solution to the problems that exist, we are going to need far better data about new grad retention than is provided in this article. We need the kind of data that will give a clear picture of the true complex situation. "

"I believe the problem with the schools lies with the philosophy that says, “It’s not our responsibility to teach clinical skills, but critical thinking”. It is difficult to develop critical thinking skills without task learning. Having a mentor the first year was originally the plan for AD graduates and only lasted for about five minutes, but it’s still a good idea!"

Add your own thoughts to the conversation on our blog, by clicking here.

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