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When Rosy Serna's mother was diagnosed with diabetes, it inspired the then-teenager to look toward a future in health care.

"My parents are both immigrants from Mexico," she said. "I'm the only one of five siblings who put themselves through college and pursued an education. I wanted to give back to my mom and help her live a better life."

Today, Serna, 29, is a nurse in the surgical intensive care unit at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, Oregon. She tends to cardiovascular, trauma and neurological patients. The work is rewarding, she says, but demanding, which is reflected in the challenges health systems face finding experienced nurses.

Serna, who started her career in health care by working in hospital housekeeping, said participating in PeaceHealth Oregon's nurse residency program helped give her the tools to survive the first overwhelming year as a licensed nurse and follow her passion.

The PeaceHealth Oregon network, part of the larger Vancouver, Washington-based system that also serves Alaska and Washington state, established the nurse residency program in 2017. The program now is part of PeaceHealth Oregon's Institute for Nursing Excellence, which launched in late 2022.

'A reality shock'
The institute supports nurses in the day-to-day practice of caring for patients and in the long-range development of their careers. It focuses on evidence-based approaches from Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic and other well-known health care providers to develop excellence in nursing processes and nurture innovation.

The residency program is a means to recruit, train and retain new nurses through education, experience, mentorship and team building during their first year at PeaceHealth Oregon network hospitals, which include RiverBend, plus smaller facilities in Cottage Grove and Florence.

Many new graduates struggle with the transition from school to their first job working with real patients, said Nicole Gooding, the director of the institute.

"There's a reality shock," she said. "It causes people to question whether they made the right career choice, and holding the lives of other people in your hands is an awesome responsibility that can be overwhelming."

Through the residency program, first-year nurses are mentored and guided to make the transition easier so they can perform at their best. "Last year we retained 93%of new graduate nurses, where in literature it's not uncommon for up to 50% loss," Gooding said. "And you don't just lose that person to your place of employment, often they leave the practice entirely."

A recent $1.5 million gift from The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation is funding an endowment to help continue the program. The foundation was established in 1977 in Eugene, Oregon. Donald Barker was a prominent leader in the state's timber industry, and the foundation has a legacy of giving in both Oregon and California.

Filling the pipeline
Closing the gap in the state's nursing shortage is a complicated issue. According to the Oregon Center for Nursing, the state's nursing workforce is severely stressed, with an estimated 29,000 openings for nursing jobs through 2032. In Oregon, PeaceHealth's RiverBend serves a region including Lane County and communities along the coast and throughout southern Oregon.

Recruiting and retaining quality staff is one goal of the Institute for Nursing Excellence, but addressing the shortage of homegrown nurses is another. Because Oregon doesn't produce enough nurses to meet demand, it ends up relying on licensed nurses migrating from outside of the state to practice.

To help boost the number of health care workers joining the workforce from within the state, the institute partners with numerous regional and nationally accredited nursing schools, including Lane Community College and Bushnell University, both in Eugene. It provides mentorship opportunities so that students get hands-on experience, and it also works with local secondary schools to promote interest in health care as a career.

"We are really, really grateful for The Coeta and Donald Barker (Foundation) investment," Gooding said. "It really does make a difference in our ability to take good care of our community. And the other thing that's really cool about it is that when somebody chooses a career in the health care field, they're generally choosing a well-paying job, and so through these programs we can help lift families up."

As a member of the first class of the residency program, Serna was impressed by the resources and networking opportunities she encountered and the support she was given to feel empowered to improve practices and procedures.

As part of the program, she worked on a self-directed project to increase safety in the handling of patients. "Eventually, due to my project, I started working with department educators to train new nurses on safe patient handling," Serna said. "I am proud of that. I wanted to do a project that would have some longevity. That's my way of giving back."

Gooding pointed out that nursing is both an art and a science. "We want to engage our nurses in making meaningful improvements," she said. "Nurses are really creative human beings, and they can come up with some really brilliant ideas."

For established nurses and other clinicians, serving as a mentor is also a positive, Gooding said. "It's really rejuvenating and renewing for them," she said. "It's a win-win for our caregivers because they get to expand their own personal missions."

Gooding said the Institute for Nursing Excellence's mission to inspire nurses to perform at their best and deliver exceptional care to patients and families falls right in line with PeaceHealth's values of "respecting humanity and understanding that we need to do that as a team."

She added: "The crux is to treat humans in a loving and caring way to emulate Jesus Christ through our core values: respect, collaboration, stewardship and social justice."