Hit the Ground Running: Onboarding Agency Personnel

Abstract

A pediatric academic medical center identified a need for additional nursing resources for the acute care areas due to fluctuating census and acuity. A lack of a robust pool of experienced nurses in this geographical area led us to explore innovative options. A team of nursing professional development (NPD) specialists were consulted to develop a new graduate acute care float team onboarding program. Although these new graduate nurses would participate in a successful, evidence-based, and validated 12-month RN Residency Program, the complexities of gaining competence in hematology/oncology, pediatric medicine, and surgical neurosciences created unique challenges. The NPD specialists began by identifying essential skills and competencies for each acute care area. Recognizing that new graduate nurses require consistency when learning, the NPD specialists identified one unit to provide the foundations of pediatric nursing and then rotated them through the remaining specialty areas. Pairing didactic learning with clinical precepted experiences provided the opportunity for critical thinking and assimilation of concepts. The NPD specialists identified evidence-based, reliable, and valid tools to measure the effectiveness of this program. In addition, an end-of-orientation survey revealed that 100% of the respondents agreed that they felt supported in their department, competent to perform their job roles, and that they were prepared to function independently. Fifty percent felt that the length of orientation was just right. Six new graduate nurses have been successfully oriented to the acute care float team. The data collected has provided the opportunity to evaluate the program and make recommended changes.