Conway Medical Center begins new nurse residency program amid nurse shortage

CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) - Conway Medical Center (CMC) is the second hospital in the state to get a new nurse residency program as an alarming number of nursing graduates leave the medical field.

Sarah Jennings, Clinical Educator and Nurse Residency Program Coordinator at CMC says the nursing industry is hurting.

“Unfortunately right now the new graduate nurses, about 32% are leaving within the first year, and that’s not a great statistic,” said Jennings.

CMC is working to combat the nurse shortage by offering a year-long Nurse Residency program based on the Vizient and American Association of Colleges of Nursing (Vizient/AACN).

“There’s obviously a nursing shortage, and we want to keep and foster and grow our new nurses,” said Jennings. “So this new program is designed to do that.”

The program is designed to ease the transition of newly graduated nurses from the classroom setting, to a real work environment. Nurses will meet once a month for four hours to get hands-on training and reflection.

A course new nurse Brianna Todd says will help her better care for her patients.

“I’m really excited to start this program,” said Todd. “Just having that support but also the opportunity to work on skills if I need that.”

CMC said 12 nurses will start next week.

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