New Kids On The Block

So where do you find inspiration? How about when mowing the grass. This summertime ritual for some is about the look of a well-manicured lawn, the smell of fresh cut grass, and the feel of soft grass between your toes. For others it is a time of manual labor, sweat stinging your eyes, allergy meds, and little gnats buzzing your eyes and ears as you push the metal task master up and down the hill. This is where I received inspiration about orientation for new nurses as thousands of them flooded our workforce these past 2 months.

This summer I am officially “orienting” my 13 year old son, actually indoctrinating him, ok, I am making him the primary lawn spawn for our family! I spent a lot of time in the beginning with him in preparation for his new assignment. I needed him to understand the safety precautions of his new job, he needed know the requirements of his new job, he was also going to need to know the culture of Prentice Lawn Care (yes, there is such one when you are raised in my family) so I could pass down sage wisdom, and he needed to know I would be there to support him as he was learning his new job.

Week after week this summer my son and I have gone through the ritual of mowing the grass. During our recent sweat-soaked event, it dawned on me that orienting new nurses to the unit should follow a very similar path in concept of how I trained my son to mow the grass. As leaders to new nurses, we need to

• Ensure they know the requirements for their new job
• Instruct on resources to provide safe care
• Educate them on the unit culture, and
• Provide ongoing support

Onboarding a new nurse properly is crucial to their success on the unit, has a powerful impact on their job satisfaction, and influences their retention to the unit. At a cost of approximately $82,000 per nurse to orient a new nurse to a unit (Twibell et al., 2012), ensuring your new team member is properly cared for not only improves unit efficiency and fiscal responsibility, but also is a positive indicator in positive patient outcomes (Carter, 2013). New nurses also adapt easier to a new unit if they went through vetting process before hiring such as peer interviews and job shadowing (Twibell et al.). This helps both the unit and the new nurse know that they are a fit for each other before resources are extended.

The current trend of 30% of new nurses depart their original place of employment after one year is staggering (Newhouse, Hoffman, Suflita & Hairston, 2007) Multiplying the challenge is 57% are gone by year 2. Impact to unit effectiveness and safety, not to mention the disruption to the lives of the nurses remaining creates chaos. The power that ensuring a new nurse is acclimated to the new unit not only improves patient outcomes, but boosts confidence, competence, and professionally develops this new nurse to your organization (Twibell et al., 2012).

So as you look at bringing on new nurses, remember some basic tips about mowing the grass. Let them know what their new job will be like, give the resources to provide safe care, give the personal knowledge of the culture of your unit to make it their culture, and be there to support. So far, no one has lost a foot or other body part this summer. Let’s hope you have the same success!

Leading with you

Dean

References:

Cater, D. (2013). Follow-up Study Links Magnet Status to Better Outcomes. American Journal of Nursing, 113(2), 17.

Newhouse, R. P., Hoffman, J. J., Suflita, J., & Hairston, D. P. (2007) Evaluating an innovative program to improve new nurse graduate socialization into the acute healthcare setting. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 31(1), 50-60.

Twibell, St. Pierre, J., Johnson, D., Barton, D, Davis, C., Kidd, M., & Rook, G. (2012). Tripping over the welcome mat: Why new nurses don’t stay and what the evidence says we can about it. American Nurse Today, 7(6).