Developing a Comprehensive Critical Care Orientation Program for Graduate Nurses

In 2014, newly graduated nurses are welcomed and recruited to practice in critical care, and hiring trends in hospitals support a demand for newly graduated nurses. At a 501-bed, quaternary care, academic medical center located in the Rocky Mountain region, an orientation program was formalized to prepare newly graduated nurses for critical care practice. The critical care clinical orientation program presented utilizes a dynamic approach that includes didactic study, case study integration, a clinical staging program, active preceptor development, and care-based simulation exercises. The purpose of this article is to describe the clinical orientation program developed in critical care, which augments an accredited New Graduate Nurse Residency Program.