Obtaining Joint Commission Disease-Specific Care Certification can be challenging for healthcare organizations. This article outlines the methodology for developing and implementing a comprehensive educational plan for a 560-bed academic teaching hospital. This information is valuable to any staff development educator who is leading the way to achieve Joint Commission Disease-Specific Care Certification.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable negative impact on retention caused by the economic climate, availability of qualified applicants, and four generations with unique needs trying to work together. West Virginia University Hospitals (WVUH), an academic medical center, recognized that its current recruitment and retention processes were no longer effective with the changing workforce. In 2011, first-year employee turnover of unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) on medical-surgical nursing units ranged from 54% to 89%. The turnover perpetuated turbulence on the units, increased demands of nurse educators, and pressured unit leadership to orient and retain new employees, which is costly to an organization.That's when nursing, human resources (HR), and the education department agreed to invest in a strategic recruitment and retention plan that would yield a positive change, a reduction of first-year employee turnover, and a better understanding of retention factors. As part of the organization's performance improvement plan, first-year turnover reduction became a goal in 2011 for multiple medical-surgical nursing units. In 2012, WVUH continued interventions to focus on attracting and retaining the best and brightest people-those who are committed to WVU healthcare. The success was measured by the unit leadership goals and turnover metrics.