Zinn, Guglielmi, Davis, and Moses (2012) noted that the present shortage of registered nurses will grow to a staggering 1 million by the year 2020. With this being said, the need to attract, properly train, and retain nursing staff is crucial to the future of health care. It is well known among nurses that the first year working as a new nurse is one of the hardest. Jones-Bell, Halford-Cook, and Parker (2018) recognize that entry into practice is often described as difficult and conflicting between expectations and reality. Besides the incongruence between nursing education and nursing practice, the job itself is stressful and requires skills, confidence, and competence in order to deliver safe patient care. Zinn et al. (2012) states that nursing school graduates deserve a successful transition to practice. New nurses often lack the skills to transition quickly to providing care at the bedside, and, as a result, 75% of new graduate nurses are likely to resign within the first year (Zinn et al., 2012). Many hospitals offer their own orientation programs, but these programs focus on the policies and procedures of the organization and average from 6 to 12 weeks neglecting to focus on the obstacles of the role transition process of a newly graduated nurse (AbuAlRub & Alhaija’a, 2018). Jones-Bell et al. (2018) suggests that standardized evidence-based resources be used in developing a TTP program. Analogous to nursing degree programs, nursing residency programs must be nationally accredited and in turn have a uniform curriculum. “Without regulatory oversight of accreditation and development of a core curriculum, nurse residency programs would not be eligible to receive Medicare and Medicaid pass-through dollars and programs would vary dramatically in structure, content, and delivery” (Zinn et al., 2012). It is the hope that by implementing nursing residency programs, that the nursing shortage can …show more content…
Zinn et al. (2012) found that when a new graduate nurse leaves his or her job within the first year, the turnover cost can range from $22,420 to $77,200 while the estimated cost of orientating a new employee ranges from $8,000 to $50,000. Consequently these figures provide a powerful reason to find sustainable programs for recruitment and retention. These high turnover rates weaken the ability of care teams to ensure quality patient care outcomes (Zinn et al., 2012). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing recognizes the importance of and highly recommends nurse residency