Winning Poster: Early nurse career coaching to impact retention and engagement

Early career nurses with one to two years of experience are offered minimal structured support after completing onboarding. During this period, nurses often contemplate their next career steps without guidance or resources, sometimes leaving an organization. Leaders must identify ways to effectively retain nurses to positively impact nurse satisfaction, patient satisfaction and outcomes, and quality of care. Focusing on retention efforts at a large, metropolitan hospital revealed an opportunity for professional development support for the early career nurse. Preliminary data at the project site represents national trends. At the project site, the average first-year retention for newly licensed nurses is 90 %, and an average two-year retention of 78 %, a significant decline for this group of nurses. One reason nurses leave an organization is alternate career growth opportunities. The purpose of the quantitative quasi-experimental study is to determine if career coaching focused on professional development and mentorship will (a) improve retention and (b) improve engagement of pediatric nurses with one to two years of experience during a six-month period at a large, metropolitan hospital. Project implementation will be completed in Fall 2024, and data collection and analysis will be completed in Spring 2025. The primary outcome of retention rates will be measured at project completion of participants and non-participants for comparative data. The secondary outcome of engagement scores will be assessed by project participants using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale before the career coaching session for baseline data collection and at the completion of the project for outcome data. Project success will be interpreted by an increase in retention or engagement scores to determine if career coaching positively affects nurse retention and engagement. Increasing nurse retention positively impacts nurses' and the healthcare community's professional, financial, and patient care outcomes. Leaders can utilize this innovative approach for retention and engagement in all practice environments, for both clinical and non-clinical employees, to assist with role development in a healthy work environment.