First graduates complete St. Joseph Medical Center Nurse Residency Program
St. Joseph Medical Center held a graduation ceremony July 22 for the first participants of its nurse residency program, which supports graduate nurses through their initial year of nursing practice and builds their confidence. The hospital presented Victoria Amaku Kalu, Critical Care Unit, Jennifer Clark, 1 North, and Krystal Huber, Breidegam Family Birthing Center, with a pin and certificate of completion.
“Research has shown that having a nurse residency program helps hospitals retain nurses at critical points in their career,” said Maria Lariccia Brennan, vice president and chief nursing officer at St. Joseph Medical Center. “They provide a support system where they can vent about things that aren’t positive, but also how they are functioning on a clinical unit and what we can do to help them through that process.”
St. Joseph uses the year-long Vizient/American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Nurse Residency Program, which includes an evidence-based curriculum, interactive exercises and final project.
“Each month we cover a specific educational topic, such as ethics, and we have speakers who talk with the residents,” said Elizabeth Hammond-Ritschard, nurse educator and residency coordinator. ”Throughout the program, the nurses work on an evidence-based project and present it as a poster at graduation.”
The quality of the posters rivaled that of what is seen at the conference level, according to Lariccia Brennan. “I was highly impressed and told the group the posters could go to conferences,” she said. “It gives me faith in the future of nursing.”
St. Joseph’s nurse residency program operates year-round with rolling start times. In addition to the first graduates, groups of six and 12 are working their way through the program, and 15 new hires will start in the near future.
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