Determining newly licensed nurses' satisfaction of a clinical advancement program

ABSTRACT

Nurse retention is a concerning issue in healthcare organizations. Newly licensed nurses leave their jobs at a higher rate than experienced nurses. The impact of COVID-19 has resulted in increased numbers of nurses leaving the acute care, inpatient setting due to early retirement or transition to outpatient ambulatory settings. Clinical advancement programs are a recommended strategy that is strongly associated with nurse retention. The purpose of this scholarly practice project was to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a clinical advancement program for newly licensed nurses in a 171-bed community teaching hospital located in the Northeast United States. The objective of the project was to evaluate participant satisfaction with a clinical advancement program. The Career Achievement and Recognition of Excellence Survey was used to measure the newly licensed nurses' perceived satisfaction with the clinical advancement program. The conclusions of the project indicated that the participants agreed with the clinical advancement program in theory but found it too challenging to participate in the program outside of the residency program. The survey results also identified opportunities for improvement including embedding the program into the residency program with the goal of improving retention rates of newly licensed nurses at the project site. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)