Abstract
The transition from student to practicing clinician is often a challenging and difficult period for many nurse practitioners. Newly graduated nurse practitioners commonly describe feelings of inadequacy in assuming clinical responsibilities, lack of support by team members, unclear expectations for the orientation period, and role isolation. This article describes the formal nurse practitioner orientation program implemented at the University of Maryland Medical Center, a large urban academic medical center, to facilitate the transition of new nurse practitioners into the workforce. This comprehensive program incorporates streamlined administrative activities, baseline didactic and simulation-based critical care education, ongoing and focused peer support, access to formalized resources, and individualized clinical preceptor programs. This formalized orientation program has proven to be one of the key variables to successful integration of nurse practitioners into our acute care clinical teams.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 82-90 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | AACN advanced critical care |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Formal orientation program
- NP orientation
- Nurse practitioner role transition
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Emergency Medicine
- Critical Care