New training aimed at keeping nurses from fleeing

By Marshall Allen (contact)

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

UNLV and the Valley Health System are launching a one-year nursing residency program to help retain nurses in Las Vegas by introducing them to the realities of hospital care with the help of mentors.

Nevada has one of the most severe nursing shortages in the country and a woeful record of retaining new nurses. A recent UNLV study shows that 30 percent of Nevada nurses leave their first job within a year, and 57 percent leave within two years. They cite unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios and other patient care problems as their reasons .

Residencies are an essential part of hands-on training for doctors, but UNLV nursing professor Susan Kowalski said the UNLV-Valley nursing residency is one of the few in the country, and vital in easing the nurse's transition from classroom to hospital.

"If you have too negative an experience you're going to lose these new graduates, and they're going to be selling Mary Kay cosmetics or going back to their job at the Bellagio," Kowalski said. "We see it as a way to have our graduates stay strong and really influence nursing in the state."

Kowalski received $646,000 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to develop the three-year pilot program for about 30 nursing school graduates annually. The residents will work at Valley Hospital Medical Center and Desert Springs Hospital. When the federal grant runs out , the program is expected to pay for itself with money Valley saves on recruiting and orienting new nurses. Marcey Jorgenson, chief nursing officer for Desert Springs, said it costs as much as $50,000 to recruit and train a new nurse.

Typically, Nevada nursing graduates have a three - month orientation period with a mentor before nursing solo.

Stefanie Devlin, a 2006 UNLV nursing graduate, started at Desert Springs in February and will join the residency program. She said the transition from school to hospital is especially difficult when it comes to navigating relationships and understanding medical equipment.

On every shift, she interacts with doctors, nurses, patients, lab technicians, pharmacy assistants, dietary specialists and others - all while caring for patients and checking monitors that measure their vital signs. In her unit, every time a patient gets out of bed she has to hook up portable devices that monitor heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, which can be stressful because patient safety is at stake with each plug she inserts, she said.

"It's like trying to change a belt on a car without turning it off," Devlin said.

The nursing residency will add nine months to the initial three - month orientation. Once a month residents will take a day off their floor assignment for peer support and education in professional practice, leadership, end-of-life care and critical thinking.

Residents will be paired with senior nurses for ongoing mentoring through the first year.

"We hope this new program really helps the new residents be able to handle stress," Kowalski said. "They will have the support."