Professional Development
We know that it's important for our nurses to develop themselves through continuing
education, service and training. That's why we offer programs and career growth opportunities
to make it an easy choice to be a part of the AU Health nursing team.
Professional Development
We know that it's important for our nurses to develop themselves through continuing
education, service and training. That's why we offer programs and career growth opportunities
to make it an easy choice to be a part of the AU Health nursing team.
Overview
A decade-long study of the Georgia Nurse Workforce produced by the Nell Hodgson Woodruff
School of Nursing at Emory reinforced what many of the nursing leaders in Georgia
have been feeling -- the nursing shortage in Georgia is worsening. Although there
are an increasing number of RNs and APRNs residing or working in Georgia, the density
of nurses among the population has actually decreased because of the significant growth
in population. Georgia ranks 49th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for
RN density.
There are not enough RNs and APRNs to fill all the positions in the local area. AU
Health competes with multiple hospitals locally for available nurses to meet the nursing
workforce needs. The recruitment challenges due to the supply and demand imbalance
is further compounded by growth within our own organization and the additional RN
and APRN positions needed to support that growth. A reactive recruitment strategy
dependent on posting positions and waiting for nurses to apply is not effective in
the current market.
AU Health takes on the challenge
In 2019, nursing leadership worked to develop a more proactive and long range strategy
focused on growing the pipeline of graduate nurses through academic partnerships,
the Summer Nurse Extern program and the Patient Care Intern program, while also expanding
the eligible pool of candidates to recruit through the ADN to BSN Pathway program
and the International RN recruitment.
Recruitment & Retention Programs
AU Health has been developing more proactive and long range strategies focused on
growing the pipeline of graduate nurses through academic partnerships and other recruitment
and retention programs. We are able to offer:
- Nurse Extern Program: The Summer Nurse Extern Program is a 9-week program conducted over the summer that allows current nursing students
to gain additional nursing experience outside of their college’s program.
- Nurse Inter Program: The Patient Care Intern (PCI) Program is designed to allow nursing students a chance to begin working in the healthcare
setting while they are still in school. They function as a Patent Care Technician
(PCT) on a unit they are hired into.
- International RN Program: A program started in 2018 as a way to recruit experienced nurses from other countries
to the Augusta area with the goal of retaining their services after their hours of
commitment were met.
- Nursing Practicum: For students who are currently involved in an online nursing program and looking
to fulfil their nursing practicum requirement.
Nurse Residency Program
A program designed with the new graduate in mind
New graduate nurses are faced with many challenges that can create feelings of anxiety
when transitioning from a nursing student to a practicing nurse. These feelings can
come from lack of clinical experience, entering into an unfamiliar environment and
being solely responsible for caring for patients.
The Nurse Residency Program was created to support the "new to practice" nurse in the transition from an advanced
beginner nurse to a competent professional nurse in the clinical environment. The
goal of the program is to increase the organization’s retention rate of "new to practice"
nurses. The program provides the following:
- Curriculum focused on Professional Practice
- Mandatory participation of new grad hires
- Participation in an Evidence Based Practice project
- Interactive sessions with experts throughout the organization
- Development of a professional portfolio or plan
- Requirement for an academic partnership
- Evaluation and benchmarking
Professional Growth
- Clinical Ladder Advancement Program
- Leadership Program
- Advancing education
- National certification incentives and training
- Knowledge dissemination
