July 2024 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
As of April 2024, UC Davis Health had achieved a 94% nurse retention rate and a nurse turnover rate of 5.4%, the health system reported to The Journal of Healthcare Contracting. That’s well below the national average of 22.5% according to the 2023 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report.
Health system leaders attribute this success to a relationship-based and professionally governed culture, new graduate onboarding and diverse professional development opportunities.
“Employee retention is important to workplace health in all fields, as it promotes the cohesion and cooperation of teams, increases efficiency and improves employee satisfaction,” said Christine Williams, chief nursing executive. “At UC Davis Health, our nursing leaders and administrators are consistently strategizing to support our dedicated team of nurses, who exemplify our nursing values of love, compassion, courage and integrity.”
- Since 2010, UC Davis Health has embraced a Relationship-Based Care model in its mission to improve lives and transform health care. Relationship-Based Care focuses on three key relationships: relationship with self, with colleagues and with patients and families. It prioritizes caring for oneself as it is crucial and necessary to effectively care for others. As part of the Relationship-Based Care model, UC Davis Health offers three relationship-based workshops.
- To bring new nurses into the health system and ease them into their careers, UC Davis Health has created a structured one-year nurse residency program. It is accredited with distinction as a Practice Transition Program by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation in Practice Transition Programs. In 2016, UC Davis Health developed a novel Critical Care Fellowship Program (CCFP) to streamline the onboarding of new graduate nurses across critical care settings by developing a structured, comprehensive, and supportive orientation for new hires to work in an adult intensive care unit (ICU).
As the region’s only academic medical center, UC Davis Health is committed to the professional growth of its nursing workforce. UC Davis Health has found success in supporting the professional development of nurses by offering a variety of programs including tuition reimbursement and flexible work schedules. There are also a variety of fee reduction programs available to nursing staff. Davis Health offers workshops for professional certification to acquire essential knowledge, skills and abilities for ongoing leadership and professional development