Registered Nurse Rachel Winston

Transition to Practice: Molding New Nurse Graduates

Thursday, November 4, 2021 | Expanded Services, Community Outreach
Making the transition from a student nurse to a registered nurse can be quite a journey. You're in a role where patients are counting on you to provide warm the best care for our communities. For those ready to get their feet wet, Bayhealth is where you will achieve nursing excellence. As a Magnet® and Planetree recognized facility, we rely on our nurses and the work they do in caring for our patients. 

Our Inpatient Nurse Residency Program is accredited with distinction by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Practice Transition Accreditation Program. This makes Bayhealth's nurse residency program one of only 167 healthcare organizations that has earned the top distinction. 

The greatest part of it all is that our new nurse graduates are benefiting from such a great program. Registered Nurse Rachel Winston shares her story: 

"The nurse residency program helped me avoid a rocky start. I absolutely loved it and found it extremely helpful for me in making a smooth transition from nursing school. It gave me the opportunity to meet other new nurses and to realize that I wasn't alone as a newbie. I was making some of the same mistakes the other new nurse graduates were, and we were learning from them together. Attending the specialized monthly classes that serve as test runs to prepare you for a real-life situation were very valuable. 

My preceptors were phenomenal when it came to explaining things in great detail to prepare me to care for patients. There is also a long list of resources that are available to new nurse graduates that help with various nursing principles. Such as, critical thinking, time management, resiliency, patient safety and satisfaction and much more! 
Most importantly, the nurse residency program helped me the see the 'person' and not the 'patient'. I completed the nurse residency program during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and didn't shy away from the selfless task of caring for our communities during an unprecedented time. I was confident and ready to provide high-quality care here at home.” 

Winston was named Bayhealth's 2020 New Registered Nurse Graduate Nurse of the Year for her dedication and compassionate care. She has helped bring awareness to her unit with initiatives through evidence-based research and she’s actively involved at our organization. 

Studies show that accredited to transition practice programs promote positive patient outcomes, higher job satisfaction and lower work stress, while increasing overall job competence and retention in the first year of practice. 

Visit Bayhealth.org/nursing-recruitment for more information about Bayhealth's Nurse Residency Program. 
 

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