Reorienting Orientation
Quality onboarding matters.
From the outset, it can make new nurses feel like they’re entering a world that’s organized, efficient, supportive, friendly.
It’s why, starting back in 2020, UVA Health’s Nursing Professional Development Services and the School began working on a new approach to onboarding. Launched in summer 2024, the new, two-week orientation uses a tiered skills acquisition model, the team—which includes Clinical Nurse Specialists Kathleen Rea (BSN ’93, MSN ’02) and associate professor Sarah Craig (MSN ’10, PhD ’14), along with Reba Childress, lead nursing professional development specialist, and others—guides new nurses in how to offer care “the UVA Health way” specific to infection control, vitals and assessments, wound care, giving medication, using and disposing of sharps, and safety and emergency response skills.
Nursing Professional Development Services’ director and Synergy Center co-director Mary Coffey calls out the work’s “community approach,” which, she explained, directly impacts individuals, preceptors, patients, and the institution at large.
"It's exciting to be part of something that really sets the tone for these nurses' beginnings."
Sarah Craig, associate professor
“There’s a clear benefit to individuals going through the program who feel a sense of belonging and more prepared to hit the ground running,” said Coffey. “Onboarding really builds camaraderie, so participants leave having forged solid relationships with their colleagues.”
“This work required that I put on my Clinical Nurse Specialist hat,” said Craig, “and look at what kinds of skills and experiences are important to create a strong foundation for new nurses from the outset to ensure their continued success. It’s exciting to be part of something that really sets the tone for these nurses’ beginnings.”
The Synergy Center
What it is
Positioned as a collaboration hub for nurses and nurses-to-be during four key moments in their education and career—transition to practice, professional growth, career transitions, and legacy—the Synergy Center aligns nurses' personal goals with workforce needs and tethers them to the principles of self-care, well-being, and compassionate leadership, focus areas for which the School is known.
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Building Nurses for the Future
Focused on well-being (not just because it's nice)
“Teaching self-care early in a nurse’s career helps both the individual nurse and the hospital where they work,” explained professor Natalie May, who studies mattering and its impact on healthcare workers’ quality of care, burnout, longevity, and attrition, and leads well-being modules for new UVA Health nurses taking part in yearlong residencies. “When nurses flourish, so do their patients.”
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New Digs
Teach? Practice? Mentor? Do something new?
Yeah, we do that.
How the Synergy Center is fueling development of new roles for nurses and nurse educators, static and mobile classrooms, dynamic clinical experiences for students—and why it's bringing new energy to the School, and more options for faculty members and clinicians alike.
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Project Team
When the team's the thing
Not everyone has an idea for their DNP final scholarly capstone defense.
So, to satisfy both DNP students' academic needs and the challenges many health systems face and seek help to solve, Beth Quatrara, an associate professor (pictured with DNP graduate Jared Sangiorgi), has developed a list of ongoing projects that need a DNP student's touch at UVA Health and well beyond. It's just the kind of thinking the Synergy Center fuels.
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Power of Magnet
What makes graduates choose to stay?
Accelerated BSN student BreAnn Dishman (BSN ’25) wasn't too familiar with why Magnet hospitals were different until she started clinical rotations. Those experiences, and what she observed in the agency of her nurse mentor-preceptors, drove her decision about where to work once she graduated.
"It made the decision to stay easy," explained Dishman, a new UVA Health pediatric nurse.
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