Nurses celebrate first 'match day' through new residency program
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Match day. Any doctor or medical student can tell you it’s a highly stressful day with a lot of emotions. It’s the day they find out which road they will take in their future medical career.
And finally, a special day like that arrived for nurses.
On Jan. 5, registered nurses with Centura Health system experienced the organization’s first match day. After an eight-week residency program, nurses picked their preferred areas of work and ranked their top five. Then the hospital system evaluated their needs to see what lined up.
“We want our nurses that come and begin their careers with us to have long, illustrious careers within this entire community,” said Bryan Williams, vice president of nursing business operations for Centura Health. “We’ve found through evidence that the retention rates are higher when you have a program like this.”
The country is experiencing a nursing shortage that was impacted by the pandemic. An analysis of 2021 showed the total supply of RNs decreased by more than 100,000 in one year, a bigger decline than any other year in the previous four decades.
In this first cohort of nurses, there were 69 participants who were matched in a variety of locations across Colorado in a variety of departments including emergency, intensive-care and critical care. During the ceremony, program leaders called up each nurse by name who then read their placement out loud.
“The matching itself I think is really good because it makes us … have more control as to where we’re going to go,” said Scarleth Laing, a registered nurse who was matched with intensive care unit at Saint Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs.
For Laing this has been a culmination of so many years of work and dreams. She said when asked as a child what she wanted to be when she grew up, her answer was always a nurse. Her husband was in the military for many years, and with the constant moving that life brings she wasn’t able to fully pursue her RN degree until recently. Now she finally gets to put those two letters after signing her name.
“I’m really excited,” she said with a big smile on her face. “I’m really happy because St. Francis has some really good people that want to show you and teach you, if you’re willing.”
Laing along with the others in this cohort spent the previous eight weeks training and learning all they could from their preceptors or trainers.
“These individuals actually took the time to teach me, and they sat down with me, and they kept me going. And during the times where I felt self-doubt and said ‘I couldn’t do this’, those individuals stood behind me and told me ‘You got this. You’re doing great,’” Vanessa Tom described.
For Tom, this match-day ceremony was so important she and her family drove the two-and-a-half hours from Pueblo to Lakewood to be there in person. Tom matched with the emergency department at St. Mary-Corwin Hospital in Pueblo where she did her residency program.
“I’m very happy that I’m going to be part of that team there. There’s an amazing group of nurses that do with a lot of different patient care, anywhere from strokes to heart attacks to all aspects of patient care,” said Tom.
Patient care is at the heart of most nurses’ purpose and for Tom, it goes even deeper than that. Originally from a reservation in New Mexico, Tom saw the health care disparities within her culture and had to do something.
“I wanted to mend that gap. I wanted to be that bridge that helps my people, my Native American people, my Navajo people,” Tom explained.
American Indian and Alaska Native peoples have long experienced health disparities compared to other Americans. Currently, that includes a lower life expectancy and higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, suicide, influenza, liver disease and more. All stemming from hundreds of years of discrimination in the delivery of health services, disproportionate poverty, forced relocation, forced assimilation into non-Native culture among other factors.
[Related: 'Many Years to Overcome': A Brief History of Native American Health Care Disparities]
Indian Health Service or IHS provides healthcare to over 500 federally recognized tribes. Still many tribes are seeking federal recognition, so many Native people still don’t have access to IHS, and those who do, often criticize IHS for lack of reliable healthcare. There is also still a lack of hospitals and clinics on or near Native homelands and a lack of representation in the workforce. Something Tom understands completely.
“When you’re a nurse, you’re just a huge asset, and you’re just a huge part of that care that they can get from being a Navajo person,” she said.
Now the challenge for these nurses and the industry is avoid burn-out. Especially over the last couple of years, nurses have felt underappreciated and over-worked. For Tom and Laing, they both hope to combat this trend by becoming mentors and remembering to take care of themselves.
“I have to talk to a family member and process my day, but at the same time, you know, a hike to get out there, get the energy,” explained Laing. “I think it helps to be able to bring back that energy that you can turn to give to the patient.”
Amanda Horvath is the managing producer with Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at amandahorvath@rmpbs.org.
Alexis Kikoen is the senior producer at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at alexiskikoen@rmpbs.org.