Enhanced wellness and mentorship positively impacts the experiences of freshly minted nurses
In a bid to improve the well-being of new nurses and reduce burnout, the Nurse Residency Program (NRP) at the Center for Nursing Excellence has expanded its focus post-pandemic. Dr. Jessica Phillips, the executive director of nursing practice, education, and research, has identified opportunities to enhance program areas around the management of stress and wellness.
The expanded wellness strategies in the NRP emphasize multi-level, sustained interventions. These interventions include coaching, mentoring, skill-building activities like medical improv, structured wellness initiatives, and professional development programs. The goal is to improve nurse well-being, reduce burnout, and enhance patient care outcomes.
Successful wellness strategies operate across ecological system levels. At the individual level, self-reflection tools and online wellbeing platforms are used. At the microsystem level, one-on-one/group coaching, mentoring, physical activity groups, counseling, and workshops are provided. At the macrosystem level, institutional culture change, curriculum redesign, and infrastructure like dedicated learning resources are addressed. Long-term engagement in these strategies helps internalize positive behaviours and transforms organizational norms, leading to better nurse resilience and professional satisfaction.
Medical improv skill-building programs incorporated into the residency can boost communication skills, emotional intelligence, empathy, and teamwork while reducing stress, burnout, and workplace bullying. Such experiential learning fosters psychological safety and stronger collaboration within healthcare teams.
Professional development integrated within residency programs, such as simulation training and leadership development, further supports nurses’ clinical confidence and career growth, contributing to improved team collaboration, nurse satisfaction, and patient care quality.
Supporting new graduate nurses by embedding innovation-focused content, leadership training, and frameworks like transition models within residency programs helps reduce turnover and strengthens professional identity, which is crucial for retention and growth in nursing.
The NRP provides unit-specific skills training and eases the transition from nursing student to registered bedside nurse. Stress levels of nurse residents are measured at months 1, 6, and 12 using the Casey-Fink Survey and Perceived Stress Scale survey. Mentorship is referred to as "the cornerstone" of the residency program by Dr. Phillips.
Mentors receive formal training to learn how to support a newly licensed nurse's transition to practice. Mentorship is a critical component of the NRP, with residents being paired with recent graduates of the program. Cabil, a graduate of the NRP, now serves as a mentor to new nurse residents.
Cabil appreciates the emphasis on wellness during a time when she and other new nurses were facing stressful transitions. The stress levels at month 6 are expected to reach the highest mean scores as nurse residents work independently. Despite some stress levels still being above Vizient benchmarks, they are trending down on both surveys when compared with months 6 and 12.
Understanding that stress is a major reason nurses leave the profession, Li and Anderson focused on skill-building and incorporating meaningful self-care practices nurses could easily apply in their lives. They have expanded the wellness content in the program to four sessions during the yearlong curriculum.
Karen Grimley, Chief Nurse Executive, created a patient wellness bundle, which nursing professionals Li and Anderson used as a reference to frame nurse wellness within. An evaluation of the mentorship experience by both the mentee and the mentor enhances the experience for both.
Cabil recommends all new nurses have a mentor, citing it as a form of stress reduction. The Nurse Residency Program's wellness program was fully implemented for the Summer 2022 cohort. The yearlong residency focuses on leadership, patient outcomes, professionalism, and scholarship of nursing practice. The NRP guides newly licensed nurses from novice to competent professional nurses in the clinical environment.
- The expanded wellness strategies in the NRP also integrate fitness-and-exercise initiatives, such as physical activity groups and counseling sessions focused on improving mental health, as part of their structured wellness initiatives.
- Designing the curriculum around health-and-wellness, education-and-self-development, and personal-growth topics, as well as embedding wellness content into each session, assists new nurses in developing holistic care approaches for themselves and their patients.
- The Nurse Residency Program (NRP) goes beyond individual support by addressing workplace-wellness issues at institutional and societal levels, fostering an organization-wide culture that prioritizes health, resilience, and self-improvement for the betterment of both nurses and patients.
