MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s Clinical Advancement Program (CAP), powered by StaffGarden Grow, is seeing tremendous program growth and turnover reduction. We spoke with Julia Fisher, Director of Nurse Engagement & Retention, to gain insight into their success.
Between the first and second full years of program implementation, MedStar Washington saw application numbers more than triple.
Nurses who participate in CAP are half as likely to leave MedStar Washington compared to those who do not participate.
As a large hospital system, MedStar Washington uses Grow to provide consistent accessibility, visibility, and connectivity at scale.
“In the last few years, our focus has really shifted towards “Best Place to Work”. So one of our strategic goals is focusing on reward and recognition… and really understanding that [it] can lead towards wellbeing.”
Julia Fisher, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL, NPD-BC
Director of Nurse Engagement & Retention, Medstar Washington Hospital Center
MedStar Washington aimed to foster nursing excellence and create a positive working environment by providing career pathway options for nurses via the Clinical Advancement Program (CAP), powered by StaffGarden Grow.
CAP allows nurses are able to earn points for the work they’re already doing, as well as incentivize further participation in professional development opportunities while providing recognition for nurses who go above and beyond.
Grow makes MedStar’s CAP program accessible and easy for nurses to use while also providing robust reporting capabilities and visibility into the workforce for leadership.
For Julia Fisher, Director of Nurse Engagement & Retention at MedStar Washington, three features of the Grow platform in particular stand out: mobile accessibility, reliable live chat support, and dynamic filters.
The ability to access Grow from any device allows MedStar Washington to make it easy for nurses to join and earn points for all the hard work they already do, and Fisher has seen increased traffic on the platform as a result.
StaffGarden’s in-house, dedicated support team helps MedStar Washington’s nurse leaders save valuable time and resources by training for, setting up, and promoting CAP, as well reliable and knowledgeable live chat and call support for platform users.
Grow’s real-time reportability and data synergy lets MedStar Washington access a range of customizable reports for CAP, allowing managers to tailor their analyses to specific departments, leadership teams, or metrics.
"The ability to really dynamically filter has been super helpful to me… especially as I do my year-end summary, I'm definitely going to be working with the retention feature more. The ease of the platform, the filtering and all that has been really helpful."
"“We're trying to build up other professional development supports [like] tuition assistance [since] they all lead to CAP in some way. Tuition assistance? Getting a degree? CAP points. Making sure that they have vouchers for certification? Also leads to CAP points.”
Julia Fisher, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL, NPD-BC
Director of Nurse Engagement & Retention, Medstar Washington Hospital Center
These are just a handful of the many features that allow Grow to take MedStar Washington’s CAP program to new heights. StaffGarden offers unparalleled access for nurses while providing leadership with visibility into the workforce at scale.
MedStar Washington aims to retain expertise within their organization by expanding nurses’ career growth options, recognizing and rewarding hard work, and communicating leadership support for nurses’ professional development via CAP.
Between the first and second full years of program implementation, MedStar Washington saw application numbers more than triple.
MedStar Washington accomplishes this by incentivizing CAP participation in a variety of ways. By giving nurses every opportunity to get rewarded for joining the CAP program, clinical laddering becomes seamlessly integrated into the daily workings of Medstar Washington’s nurses.
As a result of Grow’s unprecedented ease-of-access, nurses have embraced CAP as a vehicle for professional growth and tangible reward for their involvement in organizational initiatives.
“[Senior leadership] views CAP as a valuable retention tool.”
“If we're retaining the nurses who are doing CAP, those are the nurses who are ... putting in extra time to really help move this organization forward. And that's when you really see the increase in employee satisfaction. And then, of course, at the end of the day, everyone's goal is better patient care, and when you hit all of those things, you get better patient outcomes.
Julia Fisher, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL, NPD-BC
Director of Nurse Engagement & Retention, Medstar Washington Hospital Center
Achieving program growth for CAP contributes significantly towards MedStar Washington’s ultimate goal: greater retention of workforce expertise, Magnet designation, and becoming the Best Place to Work.
Nurses who participate in CAP are half as likely to leave MedStar Washington compared to those who do not participate. Coupled with the incredible program growth and adoption, the positive impact in terms of staffing is clear to leadership.
Using the data provided by the Grow platform, MedStar Washington no longer struggles to reduce turnover. Instead, leadership now looks towards retaining expertise by providing nurses with what they need to fulfill their individual career goals and to thrive within the organization.
The Grow platform provides the necessary clinical workforce data for reporting, while also creating a “snowball effect” in which nurses who join CAP are more involved in organizational initiatives; the resulting employee satisfaction from seeing tangible returns on input creates a stronger, more robust healthcare ecosystem.
StaffGarden connects organizational goals and guidelines to professional development initiatives for nurses, resulting in tripled program growth and halved turnover for nurses participating in CAP at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
Equipped with the Grow platform’s visibility into their clinical workforce data, leadership is given the opportunity to recognize and reward their top talent. Nurse enthusiasm for CAP is boosted by the easy mobile accessibility of Grow to submit their work. MedStar Washington’s success in growing CAP participation and retaining expertise is exemplary.
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