Abstract
Purpose Statement: Establishment of academic-practice partnerships with multiple local undergraduate nursing programs has led to a more efficacious transition to clinical practice for newly licensed nurses entering the acute care setting.
Background/Objective: Graduate nurses in their first year of practice often feel unprepared for the reality of clinical practice, contributing to burnout, a global phenomenon. Partnering with local nursing programs to develop realistic clinical experiences and tailoring extern programs and first year entry programs for newly hired graduate nurses has helped one medical center increase nurse retention. Goals of the partnership include: 1) providing clinical experiences that help reduce stress and improve critical thinking skills while maximizing NCLEX passing rates, 2) providing an acculturation to the medical center to attract potential future team members, and 3) cultivate new graduate nurses better prepared to enter the profession, thus, increasing retention.
Implementation/Methods: The nursing professional development (NPD) team focused on an approach suggestive of problem-based learning to provide undergraduate nurses an experience that closely mirrors the reality of a 12-hour nursing shift, the dedicated education unit (DEU). After specialized education, experienced unit nurses precept and mentor DEU students. DEU students are also encouraged to apply for the summer extern and nurse residency programs (NRP). Summer externs meet weekly with NPD team members and engage in a variety of professional development sessions and clinical rotations. The NRP immerses participants in the health system’s mission, vision, values, as well as organizational and professional culture. This immersion hastens acculturation to the unit and medical center, helping graduate nurses to feel more comfortable as they begin their career.
Results: Current retention rate for this multi-prong approach averages 30%, with a high of 54%. Collaborative efforts with academic partners helped to design a DEU that has demonstrated significant improvements in critical thinking skills and reductions in anxiety.
Conclusion: Collaboration within the academic-practice partnership ensures offering clinical experiences such as DEUs, externship programs, and nurse residency programs, to ease the transition to practice, foster professional growth, and aid in the retention of graduate nurses.
Notes
References:
Dalbey, S., Zenoni, L., & Donnelly, L. (2023). Preparing staff nurses to be preceptors on a dedicated education unit through an interactive bulletin board. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 39(6), E185-E189. https://doi.org/10.1097/NND.0000000000000906
Edwards-Maddox, S. (2023). Burnout and imposter phenomenon in nursing and newly licensed registered nurses: A scoping review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 32(5-6), 653-665. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.16475
Sharma, S., Saragih, I. D., Tarihorna, D., & Chou, F-h. (2023). Outcomes of problem-based learning in nurse education: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nurse Education Today, 120, 105631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105631
Vnenchak, K., Sperling, M. L., Kelley, K., Petersen, B., Silverstein, W., Petzoldt, O., Cooper, L., & Kowalski, M. O. (2019). Dedicated education unit improving critical thinking and anxiety. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 35(6), 317-323. https://doi.org/10.1097/NND.0000000000000586
Wise, M., Ossenberg, C., Spiller, K., & Henderson, A. (2023). Appraising differential capabilities of new graduate nurses: Development across the first nine months of employment. Nurse Education Today, 130, 105943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105943
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Academic-clinical Partnership, Transition to Practice, Onboarding, Workforce, Leadership, Workforce Planning and Development, New Graduate Nurses, Novice Nurses, Newly Licensed Nurses, Clinical Practice
Recommended Citation
Robayo, Marilynn and Ennis, Kathleen, "Supporting the Transition to Practice through an Undergraduate Academic-Practice Partnership" (2025). Biennial Convention (CONV). 27.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2025/posters_2025/27
Conference Name
48th Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2025-11-26
Supporting the Transition to Practice through an Undergraduate Academic-Practice Partnership
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Purpose Statement: Establishment of academic-practice partnerships with multiple local undergraduate nursing programs has led to a more efficacious transition to clinical practice for newly licensed nurses entering the acute care setting.
Background/Objective: Graduate nurses in their first year of practice often feel unprepared for the reality of clinical practice, contributing to burnout, a global phenomenon. Partnering with local nursing programs to develop realistic clinical experiences and tailoring extern programs and first year entry programs for newly hired graduate nurses has helped one medical center increase nurse retention. Goals of the partnership include: 1) providing clinical experiences that help reduce stress and improve critical thinking skills while maximizing NCLEX passing rates, 2) providing an acculturation to the medical center to attract potential future team members, and 3) cultivate new graduate nurses better prepared to enter the profession, thus, increasing retention.
Implementation/Methods: The nursing professional development (NPD) team focused on an approach suggestive of problem-based learning to provide undergraduate nurses an experience that closely mirrors the reality of a 12-hour nursing shift, the dedicated education unit (DEU). After specialized education, experienced unit nurses precept and mentor DEU students. DEU students are also encouraged to apply for the summer extern and nurse residency programs (NRP). Summer externs meet weekly with NPD team members and engage in a variety of professional development sessions and clinical rotations. The NRP immerses participants in the health system’s mission, vision, values, as well as organizational and professional culture. This immersion hastens acculturation to the unit and medical center, helping graduate nurses to feel more comfortable as they begin their career.
Results: Current retention rate for this multi-prong approach averages 30%, with a high of 54%. Collaborative efforts with academic partners helped to design a DEU that has demonstrated significant improvements in critical thinking skills and reductions in anxiety.
Conclusion: Collaboration within the academic-practice partnership ensures offering clinical experiences such as DEUs, externship programs, and nurse residency programs, to ease the transition to practice, foster professional growth, and aid in the retention of graduate nurses.
Description
Nursing retention is a global issue. Nursing Professional Development (NPD) has a significant role and responsibility to the future of nursing. Respecting organizational values can lead to an increased return on investment (ROI) for Dedicated Education Units (DEUs) and externship programs. Learn how our NPD team works together to improve outcomes for nursing students transitioning to practice and truly represents those entering the nursing profession.