About White Memorial
Training and Development
Every
year we conduct an education and training assessment of staff
needs and current program offerings. To ensure quality and
strengthen loyalty, WMMC continues to invest significantly
in specialized training programs for our nurses and patient
care staff, as well as leadership development courses open
to everyone.
For example, our new 18-week Versant Nurse Residency Program helps to educate new graduating nurses on the real-life experiences of working at a hospital. Our program includes 180 hours of classroom and lab curriculum and 650 hours of one-on-one supervision by an experienced nurse. We also tailored our program to meet the psychological and emotional needs of our nurse residents by offering support groups and mentorship as part of their development.
In 2006, 54 nurses graduated from this program. Going forward, we will track the retention rates of nurses who complete their residency at WMMC as a way of measuring the success of the program.
WMMC
is committed to developing the technical skills and
leadership capabilities of both our clinical and non-clinical
workforce. In 2006 we offered courses open to all employees,
including classes on computer and organizational skills,
team-building and visionary leadership. And WMMC offers
employees an additional benefit—up to $2,000
annually in tuition reimbursements for job-related
courses and degree programs, including a partnership
with La Sierra University for staff who would like
to pursue a master’s degrees in business administration
(MBA). And thanks to Bank of America and Aetna grants,
we offered scholarships and dedicated career support
to employees who want to become registered nurses or
pursue other professional growth opportunities.
We measure our commitment to educating and developing our employees by tracking the total number of training hours and the education dollars we invest annually, as well as employee satisfaction with our training and development programs. In 2006, we invested almost $5 million in orientation, education and training programs. A significant amount of that investment went to two major efforts: Orientation for the entire hospital staff in preparation for our move into our new specialty care tower and the cost of the new RN Residency Program.
