Two years ago, Intermountain Health leaders noticed a gap on both ends of the nursing career path: Experienced bedside nurses had no way to advance without leaving direct patient care, and nurses promoted into their first management role often wanted more preparation before running a unit.
Rather than address the two problems separately, the Salt Lake City-based system launched programs designed to meet nurses where they are.
The front-line program, called iAspire, grew directly out of conversations with nurses on the unit.
“We were rounding in the ICU, and some of our nurses said, ‘We would love to stay at the bedside and grow and develop in our careers, but there’s really not a program to do that,’” Mandy Richards, DNP, RN, chief nursing executive at Intermountain Health and president of Intermountain Children’s Health, said in an upcoming Becker’s “Clinical Leadership Podcast.” “It feels like we have to move into nurse educator roles or nurse manager roles in order to advance. And I thought, ‘It shouldn’t have to be this way.’”
The health system pulled together work groups of nurses and nurse educators to design a program accessible to any nurse who spends more than half of their time at the bedside, including licensed practical nurses. The result is a five-level ladder that credits both clinical skill and professional development, including advanced degrees, certifications and evidence-based practice projects.
Since launching the program, 72.5% of nurses said they felt rewarded for their professional efforts, 73% reported improved evidence-based practice knowledge, 80% said they would participate again and 92% intended to stay employed at Intermountain for at least two years. Nurses who participated had a turnover rate of 9.6%, a 45% drop compared to 17.3% for those who did not participate.
The Nurse Leader Academy was designed for nurses transitioning into leadership roles, and came from a personal place for Dr. Richards.
“I’d walk onto the unit every morning thinking, ‘I’m in charge of overseeing a $20 million budget, and no one trained me in how to do this.’ I was fully prepared clinically but ill equipped operationally,’” she said. “That experience always stuck with me. We have a lot of really good professional development and leadership programs at Intermountain, but we didn’t have one specific to nursing leaders.”
The year-long academy runs in two six-month sessions built around four domains: leadership development, leading teams, leading through management and driving operational outcomes. The curriculum draws on core competencies from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.
After graduating from the academy, nurse managers’ confidence in their ability to empower caregivers rose from 2.75 to 3.09 on a 4-point scale. Intermountain has also seen lower turnover among nursing leaders and higher engagement scores from the caregivers they oversee, according to Dr. Richards, who said the program is now rolling out systemwide.
The next step, she said, is bringing in high-performing nurses who are likely headed for leadership roles before they are promoted.
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