Nurse Residency Program

After months of planning and development, the University HealthSystem Consortium/American Association of Colleg-es of Nursing (UHC/AACN) Nurse Residency Program is up and running at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center (SJMC)! Our first group of 18 nurse resi-dents have completed clinical orientation with their preceptors and are working on their clinical units. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of their precep-tors, this group is off to a great start!

Residency classroom seminars take place monthly and cover content relating to professional roles, leader-ship, patient outcomes, and evidence-based practice. Seminars for the first cohort began in October and will continue for the first year of practice. Content covered has varied widely and has included early recog-nition of the deteriorating patient, code blue practice, dealing with behaviorally challenging patients, cen-tral line care and maintenance, and horizontal violence. Each resident also participates in an evidence-based practice project; see page 2 for more information.

Residency Program Underway!

Inaugural Cohort: By the Numbers

18 new graduate nurses have joined SJMC as members of the first residency program cohort. Please join us in welcoming: Alucia Taylor– 4th South

Alyssa Nguyen– Float

Anna Sellereit– Float

Autumn Manion– 4th South

Christina Pelzer– MS2B

Courtney Van Dyk– MCU

Ellie Oken– Float

Erik Bratz– Float

Erin Marie Szymanski– 4th South

Hannah McKenzie– CDU

Joanna Shelton– ED

Kami Alexander– Float

Kristi Gray– OR

Lindsey Helms– MCU

Maddie Stringer– CDU

Malena Munroe– MS2B

Sadie Bones– 3rd Surg

Shelby Cornelson– PCU

“This is the best decision

I’ve ever made...I come

to work every day with

the goal of being a little

better than the day

before.”

-Current resident

P e a c e H e a l t h S t . J o s e p h M e d i c a l C e n t e r

December 2015

Volume 1, Issue 1

In a nutshell:

Nurse residency

program underway

Inaugural cohort in

full swing; 2nd cohort

coming January 2016

Evidence-based

practice projects:

early stages

Inside this issue:

Residency EBP projects 2

Strengthening ties with academic partners

2

Forming bonds 3

2nd cohort update 3

Preceptor development 3

Pictured from left to right: Patient Care Director Jennifer Moyes, Christina

Pelzer RN, Shelby Cornelson RN, Anna Sellereit RN

What is evidence-based practice (EBP) and why should we care about it? Our current group of residents can tell you that EBP involves using the best available evidence– research findings, quali-ty data, expert opinion— to make decisions aimed toward optimiz-ing patient care and nursing prac-tice. Small groups of residents are working together to identify clini-cal questions and plan their EBP projects.

Some questions are based on early experiences: one resident had a patient who arrested on her first shift without a preceptor. Ques-tions raised following this experi-ence led to a group choosing a project about best practices for code blue drills and debriefing. Another group is partnering with their manager to look at alterna-tives to sitters for patients requir-ing 1:1 monitoring. Three of our current residents are in the midst

of an RN-BSN program; several discussions have taken place be-tween residency coordinators and university faculty to ensure that EBP project work dovetails with course requirements. Each group will present their EBP project to nursing leadership during the final two months of residency in August and September 2016– stay tuned for an opportunity to hear about the exciting work being done!

Because many of our staff have attended or will attend one of these programs, work is ongoing to make transitions from program-to-program or program-to-hospital as seamless as possible. One example relates to evidence-based practice. Both of our ADN programs now include the concept in their curric-ula, and the collective group has agreed to use the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice as a frame-work for presenting EBP-related content, allowing all of us to “speak the same language.”

Another example of a cooperative effort is the new Academic Progression in Nursing (APIN) Scholar-ship. This $10,000 scholarship is awarded to selected RNs and covers a major portion of the tuition at Western Washington University for the RN-BSN program. Several RNs in the residency program are either currently taking advantage of this scholarship or have plans to apply in the very near future.

Here at PeaceHealth in

Bellingham, we have three academic partners in our community:

Bellingham Technical College and Whatcom Community College both offer Associate Degrees in Nursing, and Western Washington University has a two-year-old RN-BSN program.

Evidence-Based Practice

Strengthening

Academic-Clinical

Partnerships

“I'm very grateful that you had walked through the code cart

with us...Having now lived through a code of a patient I cared for, I can see

great value in having conversation within our residency group

about codes”

-Current resident

Page 2

Nurse Residency Program

Pictured from left to right: Autumn Manion RN, Kristi Gray RN, Erin

Marie Szymanski RN

Nothing is more satisfying than watching the close friendships that are growing among our nurse residents. They truly have each other’s backs. Having completed 3 of our monthly seminars, the group has gone from quiet to chatty as they’ve gotten to know one another. They’ve shared stories of both the low and the high points thus far, cheering for each other’s successes and bolstering one another when things don’t go as planned.

The 18 participants in cohort #1 have formed a Facebook group for keeping in touch. Unbeknownst to the residency coordinator, they all came to the December seminar with secret Santa gifts to exchange and treats to eat!

Having a great preceptor helps develop a confident, safe new nurse. Preceptor development is a critical component of the residency program. Revisions in the preceptor development workshop oc-curred simultaneously with development of the residency program.

To date, 133 preceptors have been trained using the revised curriculum.

Thank you to our dedicated preceptors!

Creating Friendships and Support

Preceptors: An Invaluable Resource

And we’re off... ...and running with our second cohort! Interviews have concluded, offers have been extended, and we’re anxiously awaiting the January/February 2016 arrival of 12 new graduate nurses for residency cohort #2.

Nurses in the first cohort are excited about becoming informal mentors for the incoming group. Even in 4 or 5 months time, cohort#1 participants can easily recognize how far they’ve come, and they are looking forward to sharing their experiences and to supporting members of the new group.

“One of the huge benefits of the

residency, in my experience thus far, is knowing there is someone to whom I

can reach out at any time.”

-Current resident

Page 3

Volume 1, Issue 1

Pictured from left to right: Shelby Cornelson RN, Christina

Pelzer RN, Malena Munroe RN

Preceptor Emily Clauer RN meets with Ashley Clement RN

Jane Sloane MN, RN, CMSRN

Nurse Residency Program Coordinator

jsloane@peacehealth.org

360-788-6300

PEACEHEALTH MISSION STATEMENT

We carry on the healing mission of Jesus Christ by promoting personal and community health, relieving pain and suffering,

and treating each person in a loving and caring way.

PEACEHEALTH CORE VALUES

RESPECTING INDIVIDUAL HUMAN DIGNITY AND WORTH We respect the dignity and appreciate the worth of each person as demon-strated by our compassion, caring, and acceptance of individual differences.

STEWARDSHIP We choose to serve the community and hold ourselves accountable to exer-cise ethical and responsible stewardship in the allocation and utilization of human, financial, and environmental resources.

COLLABORATION We value the involvement, cooperation, and creativity of all who work to-gether to promote the health of the community.

SOCIAL JUSTICE We build and evaluate the structures of our organization and those of society to promote the just distribution of health care resources.

P e a c e H e a l t h S t . J o s e p h

M e d i c a l C e n t e r

2 9 0 1 S q u a l i c u m P a r k w a y

B e l l i n g h a m , W A 9 8 2 2 5

Key features include:

Clinical orientation with a trained preceptor; extended orientation for specialty practice areas

Paid monthly 8 hour seminars during the first year of employment. Semi-nars are led by content experts, em-phasizing patient outcomes, profes-sional development, leadership, evi-dence-based practice, and clinical reasoning

Completion of an evidence-based practice project

The goals for nurses participating in the residency program include: transi-tioning from entry level to competent professional nurse, developing effective clinical judgment, providing clinical leadership at the point of care, formu-lating an individual career development plan, incorporating research and evi-dence into practice, and successfully integrating into the health care team as a competent and confident nurse.

The nurse residency program at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center is structured according to the guidelines and recommendations provided by the UHC/AACN.

PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center Nurse Residency Program