Title : Engaging new staff in their first year of practice
Abstract:
Maya Angelou stated, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Engagement and support in the first year are crucial for new nurses to learn unit culture and professional practice, while also developing a sense of belonging in their workplace. Both objective and subjective data were collected retrospectively from Registered Nurses (RNs) that had started on two psychiatric inpatient units within the last two years with a goal to understand their experiences during orientation. We wanted to explore the impact of professional and personal support from preceptors, nurse educator, nurse manager, and the charge nurse with new RNs. On both units, RNs gave positive feedback about unit culture and teamwork. Subjective feedback included wanting more clarification on the timeline of orientation, pharmacology, restraint charting, and professional growth opportunities within the unit and organization. Additional desired content included scheduling, paid time off (PTO), and accessing benefits. Based on feedback from the survey, resource time activities were embedded into the orientation, allowing for time away from patient care to support staff’s professional growth and critical thinking skills. The resource time shifted to focus on what each RN was needing at that point in their orientation to foster professionalism, belonging, and professional growth. Informed by the feedback from the surveys, a roadmap was created to identify tasks to be completed at different milestones throughout the RN’s first year and beyond. Along with the content to be covered, there are scheduled touchpoints with leadership to facilitate conversations with new RNs about their interests and their future goals to foster a connection between the new RN and direct supervisor. These conversations will demonstrate to the new RN that the supervisor is invested in the employee that they support their professional growth within the unit and organization. Furthermore, providing structure for new RNs as they start their career and look towards future goals and opportunities. The roadmap can be utilized during the meetings with direct supervisor and can also be used in mentorship throughout the first few years of the new RNs career. Offering resources for personal development can help new employees thrive both professionally and personally, leading to higher job satisfaction and retention.
