Brinda Balachandran

Title : The nursing orientation passport: development, implementation and evaluation of a nursing new hire onboarding tool

Abstract:

University Health Network (UHN) is one of Canada’s leading health care and medical research organization. The scope of research and complexity of cases at UHN has made a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. UHN is comprised of four hospitals including Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI). TRI is the largest rehabilitation hospital in Canada. The interdisciplinary teams, including nursing at TRI are dedicated to helping patients recover from injury, illness, or age-related conditions and are passionate about improving the health and well-being of patients and their families.

Within a large and advanced organization like UHN-TRI, the hospital continuously hires a large nurses of year-round. The Advance Practice Nurse Educators (APNE) for the specific programs provide support during the new hire’s orientation as well as ongoing support post-orientation. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the APNEs support, newly hired nurses were often found to leave their position, which is at great cost to the organization and patient care. In response to these findings, TRI APNEs collectively decided to develop, implement and evaluate a nursing new hire orientation onboarding tool, “The Nursing Orientation Passport” in 2021 to provide direction, foci and support to new hires.

The tool highlights an onboarding pathway, a milestone toolkit (focusing week to week objectives, activities and resources), a detailed 6-week schedule (discussing corporate orientation content and unit orientation), required e-learnings, scheduled meetings with APNE and unit leadership, feedback forms to be completed by the new hire and preceptor and off boarding sign offs for end of orientation and end of probation periods.
The utilization of the passport commences from week 1 of corporate orientation. The passport is provided to the newly hired nurse by the APNE who explain, the purpose, related processes, and times. The weekly APNE touchpoints are completed together with the documentation from the Nursing Orientation Passport. The guidance of the APNE in addition to the tool is set to provide direction, support and clarity for the new hire.
Following a retrospective evaluation of the passport in Fall 2023, qualitative and quantitative findings suggest a satisfactory compliance in completion of the passport, increase length of stay in position, positive professional development and positive feedback of the onboarding tool.

Audience take away notes:

• Satisfactory compliance in completion of the passport
• Increase length of stay in the new hire position
• Positive professional development
• Positive feedback of the onboarding tool. Most new hires stated that “ he/she would recommend the usage of the passport for future new hires as supportive onboarding tool”

Biography:

Brinda completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). She then completed a post- grad in Geriatric Mental Health and Addiction, Cardiology Care and Critical Care Nursing. Brinda then joined the Nurses Specialized in Wound, Ostomy and Continence Canada (NSWOCC) to complete her certificate. Most recently Brinda completed her Masters of Nursing Degree at Athabasca University (Canada) with a focus on leadership and education.
Brinda worked in the capacity of a NSWOCC practitioner at Trillium Health Partners (THP- Canada). Brinda is an experienced critical care nurse, worked at multiple ICUs in the Toronto Canada. She was also involved in transitioning patients into post-acute areas as a regional care coordinator with the Home and Community Care Support Services in the THP Cardiac Transitions and Community Care. Another highlight in Brinda’s nursing career includes her role in planning, facilitating and monitoring of organizational practices at Etobicoke General (Toronto Canada) during accreditation for Accreditation Canada. Most recently, Brinda holds the position of an Advance Practice Nurse Educator (APNE) in University Health Network (UHN), at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute in which her portfolio focuses on transitional care units and complex continuing care.