Hospital Nurse Residency Program Graduates Eight
Eight new registered nurses were honored recently for completing Sheridan Memorial Hospital’s nurse residency program.
The eight are the fifth cohort to graduate from the hospital’s six-month program, and the first cohort to graduate since the program achieved Accreditation with Distinction from the American Nurses Credentialing Center earlier this year. Sheridan Memorial is the first hospital in a rural area and the 14th in the nation to receive the accreditation.
The eight graduates are Calli Aust, Dakota Bollinger, Tammy Gass, Jessica Kaminsky, Linda Macalister, Page Maisano, Shelley Meier and Immaculate Okeyo.
According to Brooke Jackson, the hospital’s clinical education manager, the hospital program is unique and sought-after and is designed to support the transition of new registered nurses into the practice environment.
Jackson said this type of program has been shown nationally and in Sheridan to significantly increase satisfaction in the nurses’ transition to practice and to greatly reduce new graduate nurse turnover. She said Sheridan Memorial currently maintains a 90 percent retention rate of residency graduates after two years.
Jackson said each participant in the hospital program receives the opportunity to work one-on-one with an experienced nurse preceptor. Participants also complete additional specialized training using a systems-based approach that reinforces their education with real world hands-on learning.
Participants also work in departments across the hospital from housekeeping and nutritional services to pharmacy, which allows them to see and understand the impact each department has on the patient experience. She said the program helps participants establish best practices and the confidence necessary to be successful.
