Nursing vs nurse Residency Program

[ButterflyRN90, ASN, RN]

Not sure where to put this but I would like some feedback on the differences. The description on my job site doesn't really explain it and I'm very interested in applying for this. Anyone who's been or is in a nurse Residency Program: what's the difference? Thanks! 😊

[EllaBella1, BSN]

Nurse residency programs are often a year long and involve both classroom classes and time on your floor. For us we also had an extended orientation (3 months) with a preceptor before starting on our own. We also had a lot more meetings with our nurse educators and preceptors throughout the process. The extended orientation was useful, but I felt that the classroom time was redundant.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Residencies are simply longer, more-indepth orientation programs designed to help new grads successfully transition from being a student to be a practicing professional nurse. Each employer's program is a bit different.

Also, some hospitals might have a "new grad orientation program" that has everything most residencies have -- but the hospital might not use the "residency" term to describe it. As a result of that inconsistency is that some "new grad orientation programs" are better than some "residencies" and vice versa. When looking for jobs, pay less attention to the name of their orientation and more attention to what the program actually consists of. Don't get hung up on the words that hospitals use to name their programs.