New Graduate Nurse Residency Program Helps System Overcome Nursing Shortage

The COVID-19 pandemic made a long-simmering nursing crisis even worse. According to a 2023 National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) study, about "100,000 registered nurses (RNs) left the workforce … in the past two years due to stress, burnout and retirements." Another 900,000 RNs intended to leave the workforce by 2027, the researchers found.

Like most health systems across the country, UMass Memorial Health has made nursing recruitment and retention an urgent priority. Our New Graduate Nurse Residency Program at UMass Memorial Medical Center and UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital is a key part of the solution.

This one-year program is designed for newly licensed nursing graduates who have successfully completed the National Council Licensure Examination and have less than nine months of work experience as RNs. Participants take weekly classes during the first 13 weeks and then monthly classes over the next nine months. In addition, each participant is paired with a nurse preceptor, who offers supervision and mentorship during a clinical rotation.

The Medical Center and HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital each host three cohorts of the Nurse Residency Program a year. Graduates are guaranteed a position at the hospital where they complete the program.

Jaime Cesnickas-Doane MS, RN, NPD-BC , is the Director of Nursing Professional Development at the Medical Center. She said the Nurse Residency Program has helped the Medical Center respond to the rise in nursing vacancies that peaked in 2022.

"Over the past two years, we've at least doubled our hiring through this program," Cesnickas-Doane shared. "We hired 173 New Graduate nurses in 2023 and welcomed another 78 for our August 2024 cohort. The program has a strong reputation in the community, especially with partnerships with local schools, and it's really helped with recruitment."

Nurse Educator Rachael Raymond, RN, has seen similarly impressive results at HealthAlliance-Clinton. When she started in her current role in 2022, she said, the hospital had well over 200 nursing vacancies. Now that number stands at fewer than 20.

"This program is helping nursing students just out of nursing school to broaden their knowledge, progress in their careers and find a professional home at UMass Memorial Health," Raymond said.

As part of our recruitment marketing campaign, we share stories from our caregivers such as Khahnty D. who benefitted from the new grad program on his journey from patient care associate (PCA) to Intensive Care Unit nurse. Watch this video?to hear his story. And, hear Karen Uttaro, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC , Senior Director of Nursing Professional Practice and Quality, and Chief Nursing Officer at the Medical Center, discuss the Nurse Residency Program and more in the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.