At the Iowa Online Nurse Residency Program, we pride ourselves on the adaptability of our nurse residency curriculum. The goal of the nurse leaders and nurse educators who developed the online curriculum was to make it available to healthcare organizations of all types and sizes. This has continued to carry us forward through the last nearly ten years of program implementation as we have had the opportunity to partner with large multi-hospital systems, rural and remote critical access hospitals, pediatric and surgical specialty organizations, long-term care, and even home health and hospice agencies. While adaptability means this program can meet the needs of any healthcare organization, it does not mean that it looks the same in each of these organizations. While we have an evidence-based curriculum anyone can use, there is also vast flexibility in implementing these evidence-based curriculum components. This comes through customizing your nurse residency program, which is something we work closely with partner organizations to do.
As Dr. Katie Knox shared in our latest episode of our Beyond Nurse Residency Podcast, "Too often, I see a canned approach to nurse residency, and it doesn't always match what the nurses need at the time. Using informal needs assessments throughout the year-long nurse residency program is huge in getting nurses what they need when needed."
To address this common challenge, here are three things to consider.
Relevance & Sequence—There are several adult learning principles to consider when teaching new graduate nurses. Two that I find to be the most important are relevance and sequence. Relevance means examining the delivery of your nurse residency content and ensuring that the timing provides learners with the most relevant content when they need it. Building from simple to more complex components is critical.
We have been intentional with this in our nurse residency curriculum. Using scaffolded learning, we first focus on the topics pertinent to new graduates when starting their roles. This includes topics such as communication, time management, critical thinking, and prioritization. In the first three months, they are focused on learning how to get through a shift, and your residency program can support that. As they become more comfortable with their daily roles and responsibilities, we move on to topics related to working well in teams, managing conflict, providing person-centered care, and having a renewed focus on safety, seeing the bigger picture of their role. As the program progresses, we move to quality, evidence-based practice and learn more about healthcare finances.
Needs Assessments—A learning needs assessment formally identifies and addresses knowledge, skills, and behavior gaps. Nursing professional development practitioners often use a formal survey to determine their learners' needs. While it is great to do it this way, that isn't the only way to learn about knowledge gaps in your new graduate nurses. Using informal ways to better understand what your learners need works, too!
We encourage our IONRP site coordinators and learning champions to use monthly check-ins as a tool to do just this. Each month, we include questions about how they are doing from a wellbeing perspective, discuss topics related to the online curriculum, and finally, find out what they have experienced in the prior month that was new for them and find out more about how they did with that new experience. This is the perfect opportunity to allow them to debrief on different situations and for you to learn more about gaps in their knowledge, skills, and abilities that you can address.
Leverage Simulation—Online content in microlearning videos, podcasts, and job aides is an excellent way to prime learners with information, activate relevant mental associations, and prepare them for discussions with their peers, all needed components of nurse residency. However, we often hear that new graduates want more. Active simulated learning is a great tool that uses realistic scenarios to replicate real-world situations. Learners actively participate, apply knowledge, and make decisions, ideally using the supplies, equipment, and procedures unique to their healthcare organization.
Integrating simulation into nurse residency is one way organizations can customize the program to meet the unique needs of their learners, meeting the new graduates where they are. While we would love to do this for you, our philosophy is that it has a greater impact on the resident outside of the online environment and when using the supplies, equipment, and procedures unique to their healthcare organization. This doesn't have to be super complex, either. Simple, low-budget simulations can have a significant impact. New to the idea of simulation. Check out our latest podcast for a quick mini course on getting started.
Nurse residency curriculums provide a great structure to guide new graduate nurses throughout their first year. While there are many ways to think about your curriculum, keeping the relevance and sequence of topics in mind is essential. Also, having the program outlined and using that as a plan keeps new graduates moving towards competence; however, be prepared to make a pit stop and detour month to month based on the ongoing needs of your learners. Check in frequently to assess the learning needs as they progress and consider integrating simulation into the program. This is a great way to customize your curriculum, engage your learners in hands-on activities, and meet your new graduates where they are.
Nicole Weathers, MSN, RN, NPD-BC
Iowa Online Nurse Residency Program Director
Wanting a Program Overview? Need to schedule a meeting? Book time with Nicole
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