Onboarding Advanced Practice Nurses

Abstract

The advanced practice nurse (APN) is critical to continuity of patient care, particularly in an innovative and research-intensive environment. The intensity of the environment, steep learning curve, and lack of a structured orientation can lead to difficulties in role assimilation and feelings of disconnectedness. This led the authors to undertake an improvement project to develop an onboarding program for APNs and develop strategies to orient them to their role. The authors describe the program and discuss how it was perceived by the APNs. Program evaluation and suggestions for future nursing research are identified.

Nurse practitioner and physician assistant onboarding in a family medicine practice

“…The study also suggests that the role of the NP is not well understood by new NPs (Thompson, 2019). Goldschmidt et al (2011) developed an orientation program for advanced practice nurses in a cardiac center (Goldschmidt et al, 2011). They identified some lessons learned that can be applied to other programs who are hoping to start their own NP onboarding program (Goldschmidt et al, 2011).…”

“…Goldschmidt et al (2011) developed an orientation program for advanced practice nurses in a cardiac center (Goldschmidt et al, 2011). They identified some lessons learned that can be applied to other programs who are hoping to start their own NP onboarding program (Goldschmidt et al, 2011). These lessons include: (1) identification of a preceptor, (2) regular engagement with mentor to discuss goals and gain feedback (both positive and areas of opportunity), and (3) formal assessment of competencies (Goldschmidt et al, 2011).…”

Reducing healthcare-associated infections by improving compliance to aseptic non-touch technique in intravenous line maintenance: a quality improvement approach

“…16 In these relatively inexperienced nursing staff, on-boarding unit education improves equity of care, role clarity, staff retention, improves connectivity with peers. 17 In our unit, on-boarding unit education had 10 modules with components of resuscitation, equipment cleaning, essential newborn care, parental communication, and so on. Making ANTT part of on-boarding unit education helped us inculcate the ANTT skills in the newly joined staff from the beginning and helped us reduce variability in the unit.…”

The strategy to develop newly joined radiographers in a COVID-19 world: a curated orientation programme

“…Onboarding is an important process of welcoming new staff and fostering the sense of being a valued member of the team. 1 More importantly, it prepares the staff for their designated roles and multiple studies have highlighted the importance of a successful onboarding experience in better acclimating to a new environment, job satisfaction, talent management, high levels of performance, and task efficiency. [2][3][4] Yet, there are many organisations that do not embrace the provision of a formal onboarding experience for new staff.…”

“…[2][3][4] Yet, there are many organisations that do not embrace the provision of a formal onboarding experience for new staff. 1 Indeed, this may have disruptive implications where an unsuccessful onboarding experience in academia led to faculty being poorly acclimated to the organisation's culture, lacking understanding of the organisational goals, and being unable to foster relationships. 5 Amid the global pandemic of COVID-19, it is even more crucial for healthcare leaders to engage and integrate the new practitioners into the organisation, where healthcare delivery system is being stretched.…”