EGH program keeps nurses on job longer
From left to right, Kim Henke, Jessica Gingerich, Jenny Nystrand, Coreena Schroyer, Janice Eigsti
Hospitals nationwide have searched over the years for ways to attract, train, and retain nurses for their acute care units. Twenty years ago this fall, Elkhart General leaders developed an internship program that has not only proven successful in educating, but also in retaining nurses at the hospital.
Many Elkhart General nurses have completed both the internship program that launched in 1998 and the nurse residency program that started in 2013. Every nurse enrolled in these programs last year rated their class topics at a 7 or above on the usefulness scale of 1 to 10. And the retention rate of Elkhart General nurses who have been completed the programs is 92 percent.
The visionaries were Leigh Poeppelman, who served at director of the intensive and coronary care units, and nursing director Bev Myers. Together, Leigh and Bev wanted to develop a means for the novice nurse to gain more didactic education while on orientation to the critical care units. They also hoped the program would maintain and renew needed nursing manpower at Elkhart General.
To coordinate, over-see, and teach the program, Kim Henke, RN, MSN, MPA, CCRN-CSC and Janice Eigsti, RN, MSN, CCRN, CNRN were hired for a new full-time critical care nurse educator position with a “job sharing” format. At the time, the internship program focused on training newly graduated nurses for the Critical Care Center (CCC), Progressive Care Unit (PCU), and the Emergency Department (ED).
One of these newly graduated nurses from Southwestern Michigan College, Jenny Nystrand, RN, was in the first group of nurse interns hired in 1998. Jenny worked on the night shift, was a charge nurse, and a preceptor. This year, Jenny celebrates her 20-year anniversary in the CCC at Elkhart General, and she is one of the most astute, thoughtful, and bright nurse preceptors in Critical Care Center. As a caring, patient advocate, Jenny received the Daisy Award in 2016.
Another nurse internship program alum, Jessica Gingerich, MSN, RN, NP-C, CCRN, is the director of the Critical Care Center and Progressive Care Unit. Jessica attended the nurse internship program in 1999 and was a full time charge nurse and preceptor in CCC from 1999 to 2010. While holding several different positions at Elkhart General, including director of the Heart Failure Clinic, Jessica ultimately became a nurse practitioner and was hired for her current position in 2016.
Over the years, the internship program evolved into an offering for all new Elkhart General nurses, including new hires with previous nursing experience. And today, the program includes nurses who work in most units of the hospital.
Twelve classroom sessions, primarily instructed by Kim and Janice, teach clinical topics pertinent to the care of the acutely ill and injured patient. Nurses working in the PCU and CCC attend an additional two to five classes, respectively, that pertain to the special patient populations and equipment on these units.
In 2009, Janice wrote about the Elkhart General program, reporting on nurse intern satisfaction scores and nurse retention rates, in the Journal for Nurses in Staff Development.
As a part of the evolution of the program, the nurse residency program began under the direction of Karra Heggen in 2013. It aims to offer mentoring support.
Coreena C. Schroyer, MSN, RN-BC, CCRN, a 2002 nurse internship program alum, assumed the new role as Nurse Residency Coordinator in 2015. Schroyer manages and leads the program focusing on the unique developmental needs of the newly graduated nurse. The five-month nurse internship and nurse residency programs are offered twice a year.
— Janice Eigsti, Critical Care Nurse Educator
Elkhart General Hospital
