Benefit of Ambulatory Care RN Educators Supporting the Psychometric Transition of Ambulatory Care Residents in an Inpatient-Focused Program

At a large academic medical center, an ambulatory care RN residency track within the organizational transition-to-practice program was created. The transition-to-practice program is a 12-month program accredited through the ANCC practice transition accreditation program. The program is designed by the clinical education and professional development (CEPD) team to introduce graduate RNs to the ambulatory care specialty. Following the 2017 AAACN residency program recommendations, CEPD has developed a solid team to help the psychometric confidence of the graduate nurses transitioning to the ambulatory care specialty.

In addition to the professional development offerings from the transition practice team, the ambulatory care track provides a skills session and six didactic sessions instructed by CEPD nurse educators guided by the AAACN content, including an introduction to ambulatory care, scope and standards of ambulatory care nursing, care coordination, patient education, telehealth and triage, and patient-centered care. The RN residents are given critical-thinking assignments and online education modules on a weekly or bi-weekly basis that directly correlate to the ambulatory care didactic session to increase their knowledge and confidence in caring for their patient population.

A literature review reveals that emotional exhaustion, workload, and stress for new graduate nurses were initially high, directly correlating to decreasing when the graduate nurse job satisfaction increased. Identifying factors on the Casey-Fink survey with previous cohorts, ambulatory care RN residents specifically mentioned that the transition-to-practice program is not geared towards the ambulatory care setting. Is this adding additional stress and role transition difficulties for ambulatory care RN residents?

A revamp of the ambulatory care track program provides a dedicated master’s-prepared nurse facilitator and co-facilitator. The organization has over 95 clinics, each with dedicated nurse educators. This provides an additional layer of educational support for the residents. The facilitators begin supportive efforts during the interview phase and communicate consistently with RN residents until the hire date. Facilitators also provide ongoing mentorship, competency validation, and transitional support throughout the didactic and clinical year-long program. Additionally, the facilitators meet with RN residents in a group setting for the didactic content and offer one-on-one touchpoint every 3 months until completion of the program. Communication with program leadership includes monthly meetings to discuss progression and to identify educational gaps.

Our goal is to compare the Casey-Fink data from previous cohorts in the categories of support, stress encountered, communication/leadership, and job satisfaction to see if the efforts made by the ambulatory care track facilitators impact support, role transition, overall satisfaction with future cohorts.