Impact of a Structured School Nurse Onboarding Program on Reported Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Few nurses enter the specialty of school nursing as true novices; most are experienced nurses who subsequently transition to the role. A search conducted to find articles pertaining to the transition to school nursing and existing onboarding programs revealed a lack of information specific to this transition. The search was expanded to include information on new-to-specialty nurse transitions, which revealed the themes of a need for role clarification, acquisition of new skills, a supportive environment, and regular feedback. Meleis’ Transitions theory was applied to understand how this information could be used to develop an onboarding program for experienced nurses transitioning to the school setting. The result was a structured, cohort-based onboarding program that spread content delivery over the course of an academic year, utilized peer mentoring, and provided opportunity for regular feedback. To evaluate the impact of the onboarding program on job satisfaction, the Index of Work Satisfaction will be administered to new school nurses in the cohorts prior to and after implementation of the program.