The long-term care program paired nurse residents with a preceptor for a year-long learning experience. Edna Cadmus, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, the NJAC’s co-leader, and Susan Salmond, EdD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, co-chairwoman of NJAC’s education pillar, developed the project, which received $1.6 million in funding over three years. One statistic that helped determine that the inaugural class of the New Jersey Action Coalition’s Long-Term Care Nurse Residency Program made a big impact. “We began with 15 long-term care facilities participating and finished with 12,” said Hassler, a clinical associate professor at Rutgers University’s School of Nursing. “If you look at the national average for retention for nurses in long-term care, it’s about 49.5%. We retained about 80%. That’s a major success.”
