The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) AACN Nurse Residency ProgramTM (NRP) has helped program participants achieve a 4.4% turnover rate of first-year nurses–quite a feat, considering the national rate is 27.1%. So far, 61 sites have incorporated the program, which equates to about 16,000 participating nurses since 2002. In 2009, 11 participating sites had a 100% retention rate. It seems the key to the program is providing practice...  Read More »

If you’re a young nurse, I’m sure you rely on older, more experienced nurses for help. Not only is their expertise valuable, but older nurses make up so much of the nursing workforce that hospitals need them. The nursing shortage is certainly looming, making it more important than ever to ensure that older nurses who wish to stay working beyond retirement age can do so, reports Rebecca Hendren for HealthLeaders Media in her latest...  Read More »

An interesting piece written by Rebecca Hendren for HealthLeaders Media bridges nurse retention and sleeping. The article highlights a new graduate nurse retention program in Lynchburg, VA, that offers a formal sleep education class that explains how to get better sleep and why sleep is important. The program was created after the nurse retention coordinator, Cheryl Burnette, began to see a potential tie between nurse retention of new graduates...  Read More »

Texas Health Resources has launched a program that aims to prepare high school students for nursing careers, reports KDAF news. Fourteen Dallas-Fort Worth-area hospitals are operated by Texas Health Resources, which offers the program to 25 high school graduates. The program, called the Prodigy Program, hopes to create interest in nursing early, and help fill a shortage of nurses. It also ensures that those nurses are cheaper to higher....  Read More »

Retention continues to be a hot topic in the world of nursing. Whether you are a staff nurse (or soon to be) or a seasoned nurse manager, the following excerpt from HCPro’s newsletter The Staff Educator, can help get the retention wheels turning. Share some of these ideas with your manager or use some of them on your staff. One of a hospital’s top priorities should be to retain competent nurses within its facility. According...  Read More »