UHC/AACN Nurse Residency Program™ Curriculum to be Adopted in New Maryland Nurse Collaborative

CHICAGO, Oct. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The UHC/AACN Nurse Residency Program™, developed jointly by UHC and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, has been selected to implement the program's curriculum in Maryland's new statewide nurse residency collaborative. Maryland is the second state in the country to create such a collaborative. UHC will support the lead agency, the Maryland Organization of Nurse Executives (MONE), to provide in-hospital training to help first-year nurses transition from the classroom to the bedside.

"We proudly support MONE in taking this innovative path for nursing care in the state of Maryland," says Deb McElroy, UHC senior director, Nursing Leadership. "To directly support the collaborative's goals, we will be using nurse training methods that have been successfully implemented nationwide that focus on empowering nurses at the bedside to deliver quality patient care."

The collaborative, which includes 15 hospitals at its launch, is a result of the work done by the Maryland Action Coalition, which formed work groups to support and implement the Institute of Medicine's 8 recommendations for the future of nursing. UHC will directly support Sherry Perkins, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer of Anne Arundel Medical Center, who leads the group and is charged with implementing a nurse residency model across the state. Perkins is also the current president of MONE. Her co-leader is Pegeen Townsend, vice president of government affairs for MedStar Health.

The statewide collaborative follows that of Hawaii, which became the first state to implement a state-wide nurse residency program in 2011. The Maryland collaboration plans to add additional hospitals as it matures. Hospitals involved in the collaborative will track metrics dealing with clinical outcomes, safety, satisfaction, and professional progression. This groundbreaking work will ensure that all nurses at collaborative hospitals have the support necessary to successfully make the transition to becoming highly qualified and professional members of the nursing staff.

For more information on the UHC /AACN Nurse Residency Program™, contact Deb McElroy, senior director, at (312) 775-4264.

About UHC

UHC is an alliance of the nation's leading nonprofit academic medical centers, which are focused on delivering world-class patient care. Based in Chicago, Ill, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 118 academic medical center and 299 affiliated hospital members through its renowned programs and services in the areas of comparative data and analytics, performance improvement, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. UHC helps its members achieve excellence in quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Formed in 1984, UHC's membership includes the leading nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States. For more information, visit uhc.edu.

SOURCE UHC