Nursing orientation programs and their effect on the retention of the registered nurse

Abstract

This is a review of the current literature to discern what factors of a nursing orientation program are associated with the successful retention of the registered nurse in the acute care setting. An extensive search of the literature was performed by using the CINAHL® database to find full-text documents that were primary sources of research addressing nursing orientation programs and the successful retention of the registered nurse. A coding scheme was developed and applied to each article for analysis. Themes were then identified that included unit socialization, preceptor selection and training, and the length of orientation. Programs that: 1) provide for adequate socialization of the new nurse, 2) provide preceptors that were identified as educators and leaders and train them in their role, and 3) were at least six months in length were found to be the most successful at retaining the registered nurse.