According to an April 25 press release, Toronto-headquartered Dignity Health Global Education (DHGE), a workforce development solutions provider announced a nurse residency program that will be available across 21 states The program was developed in partnership with Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health (CSH).The program aims to “standardize excellence, deliver and measure evidence-based clinical practices, and provide a scaled foundation for new nurses transitioning into practice.”
The press release states that “Nurses are a crucial part of the healthcare industry, comprising the largest group of healthcare professionals. Yet the current state of the nursing workforce is critical. According to the 2022 NSI National Healthcare Retention Report, there is a 17 percent RN vacancy rate, while the turnover rate for first-year nurses is 31.7 percent. The turnover cost for a single staff RN has been increasing each year—with an average of $52,250 USD in 2022, compared to $46,100 USD in 2021.”
Further, “According to the 2023 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, each RN turnover percent change can cost or save the average hospital $380,600 USD per year. In 2022, to recruit an experienced RN it took at least 2 to 4 months; the RN Recruitment Difficult Index ranges from 61 to 120 days. These challenges have major implications for healthcare systems’ efficiencies, revenue, and staffing practices.”
DHGE developed this new program with CSH nurse educators led by Connie Clemmons Brown, DNP, RN, system SVP, Patient Care Services. The 12-month program is offered to organizations looking to improve their nurse retention, increase satisfaction and well-being of their workforce, and lessen new nurse attrition rates. The program aims to increase nurse retention targeting 20 percent or higher with the ultimate goal of saving millions in hiring and retention costs for healthcare systems.
“DHGE’s Nurse Residency, training both preceptors and residents, aims to increase nurse retention rates and save costs for healthcare organizations,” the release adds. “Through a clear developmental pathway built upon digital badges, residents get an evidence-based education that boosts their skills. Participating healthcare organizations will get full support from the DHGE's highly-trained program support specialists, instructional designers, and technologists who will provide a tailored step-by-step implementation. Decision makers will be able to predict retention rates and measure the true effectiveness of the program through our reporting, deep insights, and real-time data.”
Kathy Sanford, CNO, CommonSpirit Health, was quoted in the release saying that “In 2021, average costs associated with RN turnover were $3.6M to $6.5M USD3. This has a huge implication for a hospital’s profit margins and calls for solutions that can fundamentally address nurses’ satisfaction. With DHGE’s high-quality Nurse Residency program, hospitals can equip their nursing workforce with evidence-based clinical practices to face everyday situations, thus helping to increase nurses’ satisfaction. Our goal with this program is to increase RN retention at CSH by 20% or higher, delivering tremendous savings in hiring and retention costs for our healthcare system.”
