Reducing Barriers for RN-BSN Education: The Assessment Competency Evaluation.

The Northeast Team of the Ohio Action Coalition, composed of regional clinical and academic educators, identified a potential barrier for nurses pursuing a baccalaureate degree. Duplication of health assessment content was identified for some associate degree graduates enrolled in RN-BSN programs, thereby adding extra time and cost for attaining the baccalaureate degree. In response, the Northeast Team of the Ohio Action Coalition developed an assessment competency evaluation that, if successfully passed, would grant credit for the health assessment course. The assessment competency evaluation provided the opportunity for students to demonstrate competency in both health assessment and clinical judgment skills.

Using Docudrama in a New Graduate Nurse Residency Program: Stepping Into the Lives of Families Experiencing Dementia.

Hospitals are increasingly implementing residencies to help ensure that new graduate nurses are prepared to provide safe and effective care. At the Cleveland Clinic, a docudrama focused on ethical concerns in living with dementia was implemented into a 6-month pilot new graduate nurse residency program. Outcomes suggest that the docudrama helped nurse residents gain empathy and understanding through stepping into the lives of families experiencing dementia.

A Crisis in Competency: The Strategic and Ethical Imperative to Assessing New Graduate Nurses' Clinical Reasoning.

AIM: The aim of the study was to assess entry-level competency and practice readiness of newly graduated nurses. BACKGROUND: Literature on success of new graduates focuses primarily on National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) pass rates, creating a false and incomplete picture of practice readiness. METHOD: Posthire and prestart Performance-Based Development System assessments were administered to more than 5,000 newly graduated nurses at a large midwestern academic medical center between July 2010 and July 2015. RESULTS: Aggregate baseline data indicate that only 23 percent of newly graduated nurses demonstrate entry-level competencies and practice readiness. CONCLUSION: New data suggest that we are losing ground in the quest for entry-level competency. Graduates often are underprepared to operate in the complex field of professional practice where increased patient acuity and decreased length of stay, coupled with a lack of deep learning in our academic nursing programs, have exacerbated a crisis in competency.

Using Docudrama in a New Graduate Nurse Residency Program: Stepping Into the Lives of Families Experiencing Dementia.

Hospitals are increasingly implementing residencies to help ensure that new graduate nurses are prepared to provide safe and effective care. At the Cleveland Clinic, a docudrama focused on ethical concerns in living with dementia was implemented into a 6-month pilot new graduate nurse residency program. Outcomes suggest that the docudrama helped nurse residents gain empathy and understanding through stepping into the lives of families experiencing dementia.

The Career Advancement for Registered Nurse Excellence Program.

Nurse administrators focus on factors that influence nurses' levels of satisfaction to reduce turnover and improve retention. One important determinant of nurses' satisfaction is the opportunity for professional development. On the basis of feedback from the nurses, a professional development program, Career Advancement for Registered Nurse Excellence, was instituted. The authors describe one approach to create opportunities to improve professional nurse development and the necessity for ongoing assessment of its impact on nurses' job satisfaction.

Retaining and recruiting mature experienced nurses: a multicomponent organizational strategy.

The aging and impending retirement of the nursing work force will worsen the nursing shortage. Because nurses retire for a variety of reasons, retaining older nurses or delaying their retirement requires a multifactorial method. The authors describe one medical center's multifaceted approach and subsequent strategies to create a work environment conducive to retaining the mature, experienced nurse.