Nurse Residency Program

Billings Clinic's Nurse Residency program helps new registered nurses bridge the gap in the transition from student to a competent professional nurse over their first two years of practice. Our Nurse Residency program offers a supportive environment which allows new nurses to gain the competence and confidence needed to be an integral part of the health care team at Billings Clinic.

Nurse Residents are full-time employees who are eased into the role of professional nurse under the guidance and support of:

• unit preceptors
• nursing educators
• unit management teams

Learning Environment

The program consists of active learning activities that take place in a guided and supportive practice environment using experiential learning modalities.  For example, simulated patient care scenarios and case studies help develop:

• clinical judgment
• performance
• clinical leadership skills

Nurse residents form a connection to the residency team; participate in guided reflections, and monthly journaling opportunities on their journey to become a reflective practitioner.

At the end of Year One, each resident reports out on their evidence-based project on a subject that interests them. Year Two finds the residents returning quarterly to continue learning in the supportive residency atmosphere.

Evidence-based Practice

Nurse residents are at the forefront of scholarly inquiry at Billings Clinic through their participation in research and development of an evidence-based project during their first year of residency. This experiential approach to generating and sharing new knowledge has helped our nurse residents to solve clinical problems and inform best practice changes at Billings Clinic which have contributed to enhanced patient outcomes. Residents not only apply the skills they learn during this process but grow in their professional role as lifelong learners and patient advocates who champion scientific inquiry to integrate best available evidence into practice at the bedside.

At the conclusion of year one of the program, nurse residents present their EBP projects symposium-style to hospital leaders and educators at their graduation ceremony.  Members of the Nursing Research Council (NRC) and the Collaborative Science & Innovation team at Billings Clinic collaborate with the nurse residents to refine and advance their project ideas and help disseminate their work.

Examples of nurse residency evidence-based projects that have resulted in practice changes at Billings Clinic include implementation of an Optifoam Island dressing with embedded antimicrobial silver ions to minimize dressing related skin damage, reduce pain, and foster earlier patient mobilization in total joint patients; and research on microbial biofilm which helped further define nursing practice and policy to minimize catheter-associated UTIs.

Photo: Hannah Blodgett from ICC presents her EBP project before a team of hospital leaders.