Nurse Residency Program

The complexity of health care now requires new graduate nurses to attain an unprecedented level of competency to deliver high-quality safe care. Experts have called for, and new graduate nurses are requesting, that employers provide additional programmatic support for the transition from student to registered nurse.

• Improve quality of patient care by providing additional training & support to new graduate nurses.
• Support development of highly- competent professionals who will provide patient care & leadership at the bedside.
• Improve job satisfaction – strengthen lifelong commitment to professional nursing.
• Transition from entry-level, advanced beginner to competent professional nurse that provides safe, quality care.
• Develop effective decision-making skills related to clinical judgment and performance.
• Develop strategies to incorporate research-based and other evidence into practice.
• Develop clinical leadership skills at the point of patient care.

A “new graduate” is defined as a nurse who has been licensed for 12 months or less.

• Graduates will work closely with a Clinical Coach. A Clinical Coach is a skilled and experienced nurse who uses a specific organized approach to learning, providing direct instruction, coaching, and evaluating the performance of the new nurses.
• Core curriculum is focused on leadership, patient quality outcomes, safety, patient satisfaction, and the advancement of nursing knowledge and experience.
• The residency will incorporate core nursing curriculum, competency development and unit orientations with education focused on clinical skills, critical thinking development, communication skills, and managing patient responsibilities and priorities. Best practices in learning and practice development will be employed.

• Contract - The residency is a 2-year commitment. There is a one year residency program and a one year commitment to Baptist afterwards. Residents may transfer to other units after their initial year of residency.

• Schedule - Residents will work 40 hours a week. It may not be Monday-Friday. For the first 3 months residents will be on dayshift. After the first 3 months, 95% of residents are moved to nightshift.