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The program began in February, "At PBGMC, we’ve taken the traditional nursing internship to a whole new level. The Versant RN Residency is developed by nurses for nurses,” says Gerri DeStefano, PBGMC Interim Chief Nursing Officer.

The residency is designed to bridge the learning gap that exists between traditional nursing education institutions and real-world clinical settings.

Unlike graduate medical education, there are no structured nursing residency programs or universally accepted standards. Making the transition from the classroom to the real-world is often difficult for new RNs.

The 18-week residency program better prepares newly graduated nurses for their first jobs through rigorous training that includes:

.  Instructor-led courses featuring current and emerging clinical guidelines and standards.

.  Clinical preceptors who provide personalized bedside training.

.  Debriefing sessions that offer a forum for exchange among participants.

.  Mentors who provide personal support and career development guidance.

.  A Web-based tool to monitor participant progress and track competencies.

“Residents are supported—professionally and emotionally—by a network of experienced senior nurses who act as preceptors, mentors, and debriefers,” says Deborah Hilliard White, RN, Versant Program Coordinator and Critical Care Educator at PBGMC.

“New nurses are fortunate to go through this course at the beginning of their careers. The residency completely immerses them in real-world situations and gives them the skills they need to be successful, which ultimately benefits our patients and hospital community.”

The program is also designed to help alleviate turnover and address recruitment and retention issues in the nursing profession. Due to shortages, new graduate RNs are increasingly pressured to fill vacancies quickly, often with insufficient preparation. This has resulted in turnover rates of almost 50 percent for new graduate RNs within the first year of employment

The Versant RN Residency has been shown to increase employee retention to more than 90 percent after one year and more than 80 percent after two years.

“PBGMC is committed to taking proactive steps to maintain a high-performing nursing workforce at our hospitals,” said DeStefano. “Our goal is to provide our residents with the tools they need to develop as professional nurses who can be safety and effectively integrated into our patient care areas. This is just another example of our continued commitment to excellence.”

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