Successes and Challenges in Communicating with Participants in an RN Residency Program

Lucy Wysocki, RN, MSN¹, Bonnie Raingruber, RN, PhD², James Hill, RN, BSN¹, Peter Rutan, RN¹, Carol Robinson, RN, MS, FAAN¹, Celeste Roseberry-McKibbin, PhD³, Kate Shade, RN, MSN⁴, Mary Braham, RN, PhD⁴, Denise Wall, RN, MSN⁴, Robin Kennedy, PhD⁴, and Susan Eggman-Talamantes, MSW, PhD⁵. (1) Center for Nursing Research, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA, (2) Center for Nursing Research and Center for Health and Human Services Research, University of California Davis and California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA, (3) Speech Pathology and Audiology, California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA, (4) Division of Nursing, California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA, (5) Division of Social Work, California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA

Objectives: (1) To evaluate communication methods which have been successful in an RN Residency Program, in maintaining sustained program involvement. (2) To identify the challenges involved in communicating with participants.

Setting, Design, and Method: Research was conducted at a 500-bed, level I trauma, university teaching, acute care hospital in Northern California. The study focused on 250 participants, half of which were new graduate nurses (mentees), and the rest were experienced nurses (mentors).

Concept Targeted: New graduate nurses were matched with experienced nurses who served as mentors for a 12 month period. The expectation was that new nurses’ clinical competency and job satisfaction would increase as a result of the program. Various communication methods were used to disseminate information relevant to the program. Periodic communication also served to motivate mentees to attend group meetings, communicate with their mentors, and complete activities involving a patient simulator. Communication methods included personal contact, group meetings, email, unit based informational notebooks, unit based representatives , voice activated communication, manager updates, and journals.

Findings: A variance existed in participants’ responses to various communication methods used. Mentors responded more quickly to communication via email. Reasons given by mentees for not responding more quickly to communications included: they didn’t realize how important certain activities were; they didn’t know how to log on to their email accounts; scheduling conflicts and other unit based activities interfered with their attendance at group meetings.

Conclusion: Researchers found that multiple communication methods were necessary to elicit responses from participants, and that reinforcement of information via several communication methods were often needed.

Implications: Researchers may need to find creative and alternative methods of communication when implementing an RN Residency Program at a large teaching hospital.

Learning Objective #1: identify two methods of alternative communication utilized in an RN Residency Program.
Learning Objective #2: identify two challenges encountered in communicating with participants in an RN Residency Program.