Community Memorial Hospital revives nursing residency program

HAMILTON, N.Y. — Community Memorial Hospital has reestablished a residency program that provides real-time orientation and clinical training in a nursing career for graduate-level nurses before they take their state nursing board exam.

“National rates of nursing turnover are the highest they have ever been,” Heather Bernard, VP of nursing and clinical services, said in a news release. “Reasons for the turnover rate include emotional/physical exhaustion, fatigue, and burnout. The graduate nursing residency program provides the new graduate nurses a controlled onboarding and orientation that includes classroom and direct supervision of a registered nurse that better prepares them for the current workforce by building skills through competency training and a small patient assignment.”

Until participants are able to sit for their board exam, they are paid Community Memorial employees and go through a week-long classroom training of policies, procedures, and equipment before working on the inpatient floor for interactive patient care. The classroom portion offers specialty classes focused on different areas including wound care and pressure-ulcer prevention.

“Our goal with this program is to really lay the groundwork for future nurses, to prepare them in patient care, as to avoid any overwhelming feelings when they begin working as a nurse,” program instructor Christine Martin, RN, said. “Nurses work closely with supervision and are allowed to care for patients and receive imperative training all at once.”

Current program attendees were existing Community Memorial staff, working as they attended nursing school. In the future, the hospital will fill openings as available through direct interest, requests, and career fairs.

Community Memorial will monitor the success of the program through collection of retention rates currently measured by the human resources department.

The hospital paused this program previously more than a decade ago when there wasn’t such a pressing need to fill frontline staff positions.

“I’m excited for Community Memorial and for the nursing graduates to have this opportunity, and I look forward to this new endeavor,” Kelly Kahler, Community Memorial’s education coordinator said.

Community Memorial Hospital, a Crouse Health partner, is a critical-access hospital serving Madison County and parts of Chenango, Oneida, and Onondaga counties.