US Department of Veterans Affairs Post-Baccalaureate Registered Nurse Residency: Developing Nurses Equipped with Knowledge and Skills to Care for Nation's Veterans.

Nurse residency programs were developed to improve novice nurse competencies, mitigate burnout, lower recruitment costs and nurse attrition, and the quality of patient care. The Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA), US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), established a 12-month postbaccalaureate nurse residency (PB-RNR) program at 49 sites to develop competent, confident, practice-ready registered nurses equipped with the knowledge and skills to care for veterans. The OAA evaluation of the PB-RNR program demonstrated improved new nurse graduate competence, confidence, recruitment, and retention rates after completion of training at participating VA medical facilities.

Establishing competency-based measures for Department of Veterans Affairs post-graduate nurse practitioner residencies.

BACKGROUND: In the past decade, numerous nurse residency models have been created and implemented nationwide; however, validated specialty-specific competency standards have not been established to evaluate Nurse Practitioner (NP) resident core competencies. PURPOSE: To report the specialty-specific competency assessment tool devised to assess Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) NP residents' competencies and discuss the VA NP residency program's effectiveness in expanding new graduate NP knowledge and skills in the veteran-centric care setting. METHODS: The VA Nursing Academic Partnership NP residency faculty established and piloted a web-based Nurse Practitioner Resident Competency Assessment (NPRCA) instrument for the comprehensive, specialty-specific assessment of individual NP resident's skill competencies across 24 areas. RESULTS: The VA specialty-specific competency assessment instrument demonstrates strong internal consistency. The robust VA NP residency program enhances new graduate NP competencies. CONCLUSIONS: The VA NP residency model can further the goal of standardizing clinical competencies in NP residency programs.

A Year 3 Progress Report on Graduate Medical Education Expansion in the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act.

The VA has made progress in implementing mandates to expand medical residency programs to more rural and underserved locations and to increase access to family care providers, but some specialties, like geriatrics, remain underrepresented.