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The Becker's team is excited to announce the

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launch of our new CFO and Revenue Cycle

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podcast.

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Tune in for conversations with finance experts from

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the top hospitals and health systems. We'll discuss

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key trends and ideas to drive meaningful change

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in the industry. Look for Becker's CFO and

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revenue cycle podcast wherever you listen to episodes.

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Welcome to the Becker's healthcare podcast. I'm Mariah

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Taylor, assistant editor, and I'm thrilled to be

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interviewing Lillian Donnelly,

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program manager of nursing professional development, and doctor

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Sarah Andre,

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nurse residency

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program coordinator at Intermountain Health St. Joseph Hospital

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on the podcast today. Lillian and Sarah, thank

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you so much for joining me. I talked

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with Lillian not too long ago about group

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mentoring and some of the impacts at St.

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Joseph Hospital, and it's so exciting to be

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able to sit down with you and just

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dive a little bit deeper into it. So

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let's start by giving me a rundown. Lillian,

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How does group mentoring work at your system?

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Well, St. Joseph's Hospital

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initiated new grad nurse mentoring in 02/2018

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with a lot of leadership support, and we've

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been had a program

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since then. It was individualized. It was one

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to one mentoring, one mentor to one new

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grad.

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However, in 02/2022,

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the composition of our workforce changed after COVID,

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and we had up to 80%

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of new nurses on our units, nurses with

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less than two years

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of experience, though we were a little hard

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pressed to find mentors, to find the time

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to mentor, and we had to come up

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with a different program.

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And after a literature search and a little

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bit of research, I found group mentoring as

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an option, brought it to my division, brought

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it to my director. There was a lot

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of support for it, so we began to

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run with,

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two pilot cohorts of our new group mentoring

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program.

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We had,

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two cohorts using new graduates,

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and we used a transition shock model as

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our theory base.

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We had nursing professional development practitioners. They were

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the mentors for the pilot nurse mentorship program.

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Their salary, they have professional nursing qualifications.

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They have communication skills.

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One of their roles is being a mentor,

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and so they were just the perfect fit

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to be mentors.

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We familiarized

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them with the transition to shock model so

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that they would understand the transition from academia

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to professional nursing practice,

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and we had mentors lead group mentor sessions

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on new graduate nurse education days in the

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classrooms.

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Currently, we now use nurse mentors instead of

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nursing professional developmenters

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because our mentees asked that they would have

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mentors that were closer to their years in

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nursing, someone with maybe three or four years

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of nursing,

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not a nursing professional development practitioner,

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and they're compensated via our nursing professional development

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program

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with points. So they get points for mentoring

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in their in their professional development portfolio.

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The mentors listen to any experiences the new

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graduate nurses encounter in their practice.

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They encourage interactive and supportive discussions, and they

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ensure that each session is a safe space

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for the nurses to share their experiences.

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The discussion center on the stages of the

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model, doing,

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being, and knowing.

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We created standardized mentor memos,

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evaluations,

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resources to equip the mentors,

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especially when we had peer mentors. We have

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some microlearning for them, and we have some

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modules online to train them in mentoring.

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The nurse residency program coordinator, which is Sarah,

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scheduled time and space for this program,

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and we held one hour group mentor sessions

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every other month throughout the twelve month program.

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And during months with no scheduled meetings, the

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mentors connect with their mentees via text messaging

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to maintain the continuity of the mentor and

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mentee relationship.

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That's also something that the mentees

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wanted to have. They wanted to have texting.

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We originally started with visiting the unit

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in between those meetings, and they want to

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be texted. The mentor memos are completed after

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each group session, so we get feedback.

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Evaluations of the program are conducted at midpoint

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and endpoints. And then we review the evaluations,

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and then we revise the program accordingly.

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Excellent.

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When we talked a few weeks ago, one

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of the things that impressed me most was

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you told me that since implementing

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this group mentoring,

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nurse retention has risen to ninety seven percent,

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which is just absolutely incredible.

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So what was group mentoring's part in that

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increase?

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So group mentoring is just one aspect of

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our transition to practice nurse residency program,

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that affects our retention.

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So along with the group mentoring, we also

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incorporate

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in person skills days, we do EVP projects

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with poster presentations,

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we do a lot with gamification,

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and we try to include as many other

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interactive activities as we can.

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However, studies have shown that mentoring has been

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linked to increased job satisfaction,

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reduced turnover, and encouragement of career planning,

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especially when we're working with new graduate nurses.

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The group dynamic in our group mentoring provides

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just collaborative learning environment,

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provides emotional support,

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knowledge sharing in the group, and anytime you

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provide support and knowledge sharing, it contributes to

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that retention.

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So mentoring is a key element of our

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culture,

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but not just the only aspect

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that helps our retention of new nurses.

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I also ask the new grads to complete

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a profile sheet on their first day of

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class as a new grad, that just helps

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assist their mentor in getting to know them.

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We also talk about habit forming goals, so

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those small short goals they can just do

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in a couple weeks,

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some reach goals that are maybe a month

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or two out and then also stretch goals.

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So looking at the long term of what

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they want to do as a nurse, and

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that also helps guide some conversations with their

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with the mentee and mentor.

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We also provide the mentors with icebreaker questions

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that allow them to get to know their

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mentees better and to to help establish that

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psychologically

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safe relationship between them.

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And lastly, one of the questions that we

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have our mentors ask the new grads is

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what are you doing for your well-being?

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The new graduate nurses appreciate the concern about

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their well-being and not just their practice. Supporting

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the health and well-being of nurses is one

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of the key recommendations in the future of

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nursing.

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Twenty twenty through 02/1930

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reports that we like to keep in the

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forefront of our program.

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Absolutely.

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I love that.

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How do you evaluate the effectiveness of group

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mentoring, and what are some of those outcomes?

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So one of the ways we evaluate the

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effectiveness of our group mentoring program, and Lillian

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had mentioned this at the beginning, was that

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we take the feedback from our midpoint and

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our end of the program evaluations.

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Just looking at our qualitative data from that,

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our evaluations show that the majority of our

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new grads

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agree that mentors are positive role models, and

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they also agree that group mentoring provides the

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positive impact, such as the support, the encouragement,

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the beneficial

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discussions, and contributes to their personal satisfaction as

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nurses.

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Hundred percent of our new grads in our

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evaluations say that they have engaged in sharing

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of nursing stories,

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during their mentor sessions.

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Nursing stories are an interactive learning method for

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sharing learnings and experiences,

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from experienced nurses

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to the novice nurses.

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One of the most striking responses, and I

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believe it was recently that we got in

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the feedback from a new graduate nurse,

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was that it was a super impactful experience.

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This program has become kind of near and

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dear to mine and Lillian's hearts, and so

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that was

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a pretty profound

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statement.

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We've also been asked to continue mentoring into

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year two of

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their nursing journey, which is evidence that they

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value the experience and they would like the,

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continuation of the support.

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Prior to 2022,

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our first year new grad retention rate was

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around

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eighty five percent.

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And just for comparison, the national average for

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first year retention

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of new graduate nurses is around seventy percent,

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with an estimated

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of thirty three percent of new grads leave

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within the first year of their nursing career.

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That's absolutely incredible.

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And, clearly, you guys are doing something right

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here because everybody is loving it. You're getting

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such great feedback. But I'm curious, what strategies

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are you implementing to sustain this program success

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as the nursing workforce continues to evolve?

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Well, we are soon going to send out

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the March 2024 end of program

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evaluation,

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and that's our survey

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that will look at our second year of

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the peer group mentoring.

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And as previously mentioned, we're considering incorporating second

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year mentoring into the program

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as requested by the new graduate nurses, but

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we really need to think about what that's

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going to look like and how it would

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benefit them because it would look a little

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different. We want to listen to their feedback,

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and we wanna give them the support that

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they need. We're also going to start assigning

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two mentors per group,

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to get some more interaction and more continuity.

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One of the comments that the nurse graduate

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nurses have provided

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is that they value having the same mentor

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for each session.

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In response to those comments, having two mentors

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assures us that if someone has to call

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out sick, we're still gonna have that continuity.

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There will always be a mentor that they

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know and and feel comfortable with. And two

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mentors will also help provide a more robust

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discussion

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and a better opportunity for relationships.

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We feel we have enough experienced nurses interested

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in group mentoring to fulfill these roles.

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Another strategy we will be implementing is to

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start surveying the new graduate nurses about the

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discussion questions that they'd like to use in

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the mentor sessions.

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We'll obtain that information through discussion with them

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and via the end of program evaluation.

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Currently, we ask about their well-being practices in

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each session, and we ask questions based on

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the stages of the transition shock model. But

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we wanna ensure that any of the questions

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that we're using, any of these guided questions

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are relevant to where they currently are in

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their practice,

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and that dementia discussions will continue to be

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beneficial.

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Sarah is always in touch with the new

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graduate nurses. She's always there. She follows them

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for a year. She hears their concern. She

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hears their cares and addresses them. I precept

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and mentor nursing students, and I work with

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nursing programs.

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And in that way, we continue to hear

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the heartbeat of their needs and the changes

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occurring in nursing training and in the nursing

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practice on the units.

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This, we realize, is a new generation of

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nurses, and we need to change our programs

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to accommodate their needs.

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To ensure the success of our group mentoring

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program, we also need to stay connected with

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our new nurses, not just in the first

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year, but also as they continue in their

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practice and their careers. So we're both involved

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in different councils, committees, and our nursing professional

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development program

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and rounding on the units, speaking to our

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nurses,

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and working with them so that we can

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keep up to date on changes in workforce

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and to assist them also in their career

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ladder as they become more experienced.

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Excellent. Well, this has been an amazing and

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informative discussion. Thank you both so much for

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joining me on the podcast today.