The lab's impact
Helping improve patient care - that, without a doubt, is the most important side effect of the Educational Training Lab. According to Perales, an added bonus has been the profound impact the lab's had upon recruitment and retention.
New employees on the APU undergo an eight-week orientation program with a portion of the training taking place in the lab. Thanks to the lab's many educational tools, the training new hires receive is extensive and thorough.


As for as retention goes, the Educational Training Lab gives APU nurses the ability to switch career tracks - and thus, make a move to a new department within the hospital, rather than leave for another facility. It's all part of the Clinical Career Mapping program and so far, it's successfully seen four new graduate nurses take on duties such as charge nurse and preceptor for new hires, as well as move to units such as ICU or the ED.

"We want nurses to know that when it comes to making a change, the support is there," Cleary-Nichols said. "Quite often, a variety of factors impede a nurse from switching to another department, and that can lead to frustration and low morale. We didn't want that to be the case at our facility."
"We don't want to simply retain nurses," Perales said. "We want them to grow as well. And having this lab allows us to do that."

For more information, visit www.monadnockhospital.org or call them at 603-924-7191.

Posted with thanks to HealthCare Review, Northeast Network.

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