Nursing student residency program: a model for a seamless transition from nursing student to RN.

It takes a relatively long time for new nursing graduates to become oriented and comfortable with work routines on the nursing unit. To address the problem, the authors formed a partnership among three educational programs and three hospitals. This article describes a 900-hour residency program for senior baccalaureate nursing students to ease their transition into the role of beginning-level staff nurse in an acute-care setting. The benefits to the hospitals were decreased orientation time, less turnover in staff (50% at 2 years), and lower recruitment costs.