Denver Health – New to the Intensive Care Environment Nurse Program

Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA), like most hospitals across Colorado and the country, has experienced the effects of the health care workforce shortage and noted the high, unsustainable cost of using RN travelers to supplement nursing staff in the intensive care units (ICU). As a result, DHHA began to look for solutions to eliminate the use of RN travelers, and retain newly hired and incumbent RNs, while sustaining or improving patient outcomes. Accordingly, the New to the Intensive Care Environment nurse program (NICE) was created and implemented. NICE focused on RNs without ICU experience and new graduates.

The goals and objectives of NICE are as follows:

• Eliminate the use of RN travelers.
• Hire multiple new graduate RNs (NGRN) into two critical care areas.
• Support newly hired nurses with no critical care experience with an additional six weeks of post-orientation mentorship.
• Staff each shift with one NICE mentor.
• NICE mentor’s responsibilities include supporting the new nurse with critical thinking and communication skills.
• NICE mentors review all aspects of the quality of patient care.

Successes of this program include elimination of the use of RN travelers in the ICUs and improved retention of RN staff. Additionally, quality of care was maintained with no increase in negative patient outcomes.

To learn more about the NICE program, please contact Kelly Medero, DNP, RN, CCRN, NE-BC ([email protected]) at DHHA.