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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
* The importance of establishing transition to practice and nurse residency programs in all practice settings is clearly supported in the literature.
* Developing a standardized program ensures use of evidence-based practice materials avoiding wide variance among curriculums.
* Investing in time to develop academic practice partnerships will promote necessary changes in nursing education as the role of the RN evolves.
* Partnerships provide an avenue to develop a new workforce that is not only directed at inpatient care, but also encompasses specialty care including ambulatory practice.
* As healthcare delivery continues to expand into nonhospital settings, demand for nurses in outpatient care will continue to grow.
* It is important ambulatory and community-based care settings play an active role in developing their own RN workforce.
Nurse educators and administrators struggle with understanding the benefits of transition to practice (TTP) and residency programs in specialty practice areas as well as the return on investment these programs can offer. Partnerships between academia and clinical practice are necessary for expanding transition into professional practice for new graduate registered nurse (NGRNs).
Ambulatory care practice areas are challenged to develop ongoing academic-practice partnerships with local nursing programs to build a "workforce pipeline" of new registered nurses (American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing [AAACN], 2014; Jones-Bell et al., 2014). At the same time, nursing programs are challenged to find ways to incorporate new models of care delivery found in outpatient settings as the role of the registered nurse (RN) changes (Africa, 2017; AAACN, 2014; Jones-Bell & Halford, 2016). A succession plan to replace retiring RN baby boomers is more important than ever with expansion of ambulatory care services replacing care once received in the hospital setting. Ambulatory care patients today also have more complex and chronic healthcare needs requiring expertise in care coordination. TTP programs and ambulatory care RN residency programs can both help build a future, sustainable workforce and improve patient care. It is essential to use standardized evidence-based resources in developing programs to address the educational needs of nursing students (NGRNs), as well as RNs new to ambulatory care. Using standardized tools to measure and record data obtained from these programs is important to demonstrate effectiveness and benefits of utilizing evidence-based resiNOTE: dency programs in...