The Mount Sinai Health System Nurse Residency Program (NRP), which started in 2019, is designed to facilitate new graduate nurses’ transition into their professional practice positions in the Health System. NRP provides education and support for what can be a daunting change from the student experience. Each year, six cohorts of new graduate nurses participate in this program, attending one eight-hour seminar each month for twelve months.
James Gold, DNP, RN, MedSurg-BC, NPD-BC, was recruited to Mount Sinai in 2024 to be the systemwide Nurse Education Manager lead for the program. In this role, Dr. Gold collaborates with site-specific NRP educators: Latia Lee, RN, MA, CPN, The Mount Sinai Hospital; Evelyn Navarro, RN, MA, MS, Mount Sinai West; Kingsley Nurse, MBA, MS, M.ED, RN, Mount Sinai Morningside; and Elissa Orbon, MS, RN-BC, Mount Sinai Queens. Together, they work to enhance curriculum topics, engage new graduates, and introduce simulation strategies with a system focus. “Efforts to standardize the program is a strategic goal of the Health System,” he explains. “The program provides new graduate nurses with many diverse teaching, learning, and coaching experiences.”
James Gold, DNP, RN, MedSurg-BC, NPD-BC
Recently, in-person sessions throughout the Health System introduced a multitude of experts, in subject areas including hospice and palliative care, pain management, medication safety, and conflict resolution. Residents also plan to meet with legal/risk management experts from the Health System to understand the importance of accurate patient care planning and clinical documentation. Other teams already in progress include experts representing rapid response, infection prevention, quality, and equity, among others.
The residents consistently participate in clinical reflections, a forum where they can confidentially share their successes and challenges with fellow new graduate nurses and a facilitator. The facilitators include senior clinical nurses, preceptors, and nurse educators. In these sessions, facilitators mentor the residents and discuss ways to promote the critical thinking skills required for them to succeed in their clinical nurse roles. Peter Ehiebolo, BSN, RN, a nurse at The Mount Sinai Hospital, completed the program last month. “The monthly sessions helped create a safe space for me to vent my feelings, share my challenges, and ask for workable recommendations to surmount them. Through the program, I realized I was not alone as I navigated my transition from student to professional nurse.”
Dr. Gold and the coordinators say their NRP interactions with new graduate nurses are highly gratifying. “When new graduate nurses arrive at the Mount Sinai Health System, they are naturally unsure of their new role,“ Dr. Gold says. “After twelve months, they are significantly more confident and competent. It is incredibly rewarding to contribute to the professional development of new graduates and shape the evolution of this program, and strive to be the best NRP in New York City.”