The Nurse Residency Program provides an opportunity to provide new nurses with a solid career foundation.
Kristi Farmer, Manager of the Nurse Residency Program, shares details about the nurse residency program.
Selected Podcast
All About the Nurse Residency Program
Featured Speaker:
Kristi Farmer
Kristi Farmer has been a nurse for 22 years with a variety of clinical experience ranging from critical care to perioperative services. She has been with GHS for 9 years and has worked at multiple GHS facilities in the areas of education and perioperative services. She lives in Spartanburg with her husband Jason and children Madeline-17 and Mason-15. She is excited about launching the Nurse Residency program which will shape and positively impact the profession of nursing in our community.Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): We’re talking today about the new nurse residency program and my guest is Kristi Farmer. She’s the manager of the nurse residency program at Greenville Health System. Kristi tell us about launching the nurse residency program and how did this come about?
Kristi Farmer (Guest): Thank you. We have taken the opportunity and the privilege to go back and regroup to build a new nurse residency program for the system to transition new graduates coming into our acute patient setting from an academic setting and more supportive environment where they can come in in teams of new graduates who are cohorted or grouped together in specialized service lines so that they build on a model that builds from a lower acuity to a higher acuity level of care, so we can cement their progress and build their confidence as a new graduate nurse.
Melanie: What are you looking for in a nurse resident? What type of personality traits are you looking for?
Kristi: So, we are able to use a WordPress link to gather a lot of information from these new graduates. Information like what facility they would like to work at. What their GPA is? What their service to the community has been? What kind of opportunities have they taken to get into the clinical setting and work? It also gives them an opportunity to say why they want to be involved in a nurse residency program.
Melanie: How will this shape and positively impact the profession of nursing in the community?
Kristi: Well we are building our generation of nurses for tomorrow. It’s our responsibility to build a workforce of nursing to take care of our patient population in an ever-changing healthcare environment.
Melanie: Then tell us about some of the foundational and specialty-specific clinical core curriculum. What are the classes like?
Kristi: So, each cohort or service line model in the different academies is built on a structured program ranging from twelve to 24 weeks in length giving the new graduate nurse the opportunity to build on their skills to go from overall generalized nursing concepts to build onto the more acute critical care concepts that we need in some of our specialty areas like the emergency department, critical care, perioperative services, specifically in the operating room.
Melanie: So, tell us about some of the uses for things like simulation and are they getting one on one skills and validation of what they are learning?
Kristi: Absolutely. So, we have the opportunity to have residency educators that spend every week with these new graduate nurses building on what their one skill to the next skill needs to do to develop not only in a simulation type setting where we can practice and know not only how we are doing something, why we are doing something, but the professional manner in which the cadet patient care and so we are building on that level of care from one week to the next and this is a dedicated team.
Melanie: How are clinical mentors and professional development involved in the hands-on application? Who leads these academies?
Kristi: The academies are led by specialty experts in their field. They are educators that are covering the entire organization from a system level and down to the unit-based level, so they can see things growing from the organizational level, what the regulatory requirements are, what our goals and professional development concepts are for the system. We utilize mentors in the clinical setting also to work one on one in a patient care setting for unit-clinical based time and then we are using our professional development content expert in our academy of leadership in organizational development to build content specific to on how they become a professional nurse.
Melanie: What are some of the benefits of being in an academy?
Kristi: The model is such that it’s such a close tight knit group. You are able to learn how to develop teamwork, social skills, work together with folks that are going through the exact same process that you are in embracing a new career. We have the opportunity to really build relationships with these new graduate nurses to promote them as professionals in a collaborative environment.
Melanie: And some of these are very specialized such as women’s services and children’s services. Are there specific qualities and traits that you are looking for in a nurse resident when it comes to learning children’s services?
Kristi: Absolutely. That is an honor to take care of our youngest population of patients and these are specialty areas that we take ownership and pride in to make sure that we are respectful and cognizant of what we are doing for that patient population and to build the relationships not only with the patients but their families and engage them in that healthcare process.
Melanie: Tell us a little bit more about the Comprehensive Acute Care Program.
Kristi: So, our academy utilizes the building blocks of all nursing care. That is the foundation of what every nurse does. Our experts in this area will build on a system by system level, bringing what you have learned in the academic setting, whether you have had a lot of experience or a little experience and we want to cement those concepts to make sure that you understand exactly how to take care of our patients in the best possible way so standard of care is at the highest level.
Melanie: What’s involved in the application process Kristi?
Kristi: So, for our application process is twofold. You can go to our website the GHS Careers home page. You would search nurse resident and when you go to that page you will see the academies that are available, and we do these academies by cohort several times a year, three to four sometimes five times a year. So, you will see the specialty lines there. Currently, we have for February, we have critical care, the emergency department, perioperative services and our MS telemetry cohort. And once you choose that, or you can choose multiple if you like, you would apply to that position and it’s a pretty thorough involved process to go through. You answer several screening questions on that and then also you do another WordPress link like I talked about earlier where you go in there and give us some information about where you would like to work so we have a large system, a large network of hospitals that you could work in so you get to choose your preference of where you would want to work. It gives us opportunity to find out a little bit about your educational background, your GPA, your transcript and then we ask for recommendation letters of a professional clinical recommendation letter and also a personal reference letter.
Melanie: Wrap it up for us Kristi. What would you like us to take away from this segment about the new nurse residency program?
Kristi: Well I just feel very passionately that it is our opportunity and our privilege to build our nursing workforce for tomorrow. I mean it’s our obligation to build the environment and the care that we need in our facilities here to make patients feel like they are the most important thing that we do every day and they are the most important thing that we do every day.
Melanie: Thank you so much for joining us Kristi and explaining the new nurse residency program. Thank you again. You’re listening to Inside Health. I’m Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Melanie Cole (Host): We’re talking today about the new nurse residency program and my guest is Kristi Farmer. She’s the manager of the nurse residency program at Greenville Health System. Kristi tell us about launching the nurse residency program and how did this come about?
Kristi Farmer (Guest): Thank you. We have taken the opportunity and the privilege to go back and regroup to build a new nurse residency program for the system to transition new graduates coming into our acute patient setting from an academic setting and more supportive environment where they can come in in teams of new graduates who are cohorted or grouped together in specialized service lines so that they build on a model that builds from a lower acuity to a higher acuity level of care, so we can cement their progress and build their confidence as a new graduate nurse.
Melanie: What are you looking for in a nurse resident? What type of personality traits are you looking for?
Kristi: So, we are able to use a WordPress link to gather a lot of information from these new graduates. Information like what facility they would like to work at. What their GPA is? What their service to the community has been? What kind of opportunities have they taken to get into the clinical setting and work? It also gives them an opportunity to say why they want to be involved in a nurse residency program.
Melanie: How will this shape and positively impact the profession of nursing in the community?
Kristi: Well we are building our generation of nurses for tomorrow. It’s our responsibility to build a workforce of nursing to take care of our patient population in an ever-changing healthcare environment.
Melanie: Then tell us about some of the foundational and specialty-specific clinical core curriculum. What are the classes like?
Kristi: So, each cohort or service line model in the different academies is built on a structured program ranging from twelve to 24 weeks in length giving the new graduate nurse the opportunity to build on their skills to go from overall generalized nursing concepts to build onto the more acute critical care concepts that we need in some of our specialty areas like the emergency department, critical care, perioperative services, specifically in the operating room.
Melanie: So, tell us about some of the uses for things like simulation and are they getting one on one skills and validation of what they are learning?
Kristi: Absolutely. So, we have the opportunity to have residency educators that spend every week with these new graduate nurses building on what their one skill to the next skill needs to do to develop not only in a simulation type setting where we can practice and know not only how we are doing something, why we are doing something, but the professional manner in which the cadet patient care and so we are building on that level of care from one week to the next and this is a dedicated team.
Melanie: How are clinical mentors and professional development involved in the hands-on application? Who leads these academies?
Kristi: The academies are led by specialty experts in their field. They are educators that are covering the entire organization from a system level and down to the unit-based level, so they can see things growing from the organizational level, what the regulatory requirements are, what our goals and professional development concepts are for the system. We utilize mentors in the clinical setting also to work one on one in a patient care setting for unit-clinical based time and then we are using our professional development content expert in our academy of leadership in organizational development to build content specific to on how they become a professional nurse.
Melanie: What are some of the benefits of being in an academy?
Kristi: The model is such that it’s such a close tight knit group. You are able to learn how to develop teamwork, social skills, work together with folks that are going through the exact same process that you are in embracing a new career. We have the opportunity to really build relationships with these new graduate nurses to promote them as professionals in a collaborative environment.
Melanie: And some of these are very specialized such as women’s services and children’s services. Are there specific qualities and traits that you are looking for in a nurse resident when it comes to learning children’s services?
Kristi: Absolutely. That is an honor to take care of our youngest population of patients and these are specialty areas that we take ownership and pride in to make sure that we are respectful and cognizant of what we are doing for that patient population and to build the relationships not only with the patients but their families and engage them in that healthcare process.
Melanie: Tell us a little bit more about the Comprehensive Acute Care Program.
Kristi: So, our academy utilizes the building blocks of all nursing care. That is the foundation of what every nurse does. Our experts in this area will build on a system by system level, bringing what you have learned in the academic setting, whether you have had a lot of experience or a little experience and we want to cement those concepts to make sure that you understand exactly how to take care of our patients in the best possible way so standard of care is at the highest level.
Melanie: What’s involved in the application process Kristi?
Kristi: So, for our application process is twofold. You can go to our website the GHS Careers home page. You would search nurse resident and when you go to that page you will see the academies that are available, and we do these academies by cohort several times a year, three to four sometimes five times a year. So, you will see the specialty lines there. Currently, we have for February, we have critical care, the emergency department, perioperative services and our MS telemetry cohort. And once you choose that, or you can choose multiple if you like, you would apply to that position and it’s a pretty thorough involved process to go through. You answer several screening questions on that and then also you do another WordPress link like I talked about earlier where you go in there and give us some information about where you would like to work so we have a large system, a large network of hospitals that you could work in so you get to choose your preference of where you would want to work. It gives us opportunity to find out a little bit about your educational background, your GPA, your transcript and then we ask for recommendation letters of a professional clinical recommendation letter and also a personal reference letter.
Melanie: Wrap it up for us Kristi. What would you like us to take away from this segment about the new nurse residency program?
Kristi: Well I just feel very passionately that it is our opportunity and our privilege to build our nursing workforce for tomorrow. I mean it’s our obligation to build the environment and the care that we need in our facilities here to make patients feel like they are the most important thing that we do every day and they are the most important thing that we do every day.
Melanie: Thank you so much for joining us Kristi and explaining the new nurse residency program. Thank you again. You’re listening to Inside Health. I’m Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
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