New York City touts training 5,000 RNs in an effort to address nursing shortages

Nursing shortages are nothing new, but the Adams administration is celebrating a city effort that’s trained 5,000 new registered nurses (RNs) since 2019.

New York City’s Citywide Nurse Residency Program, which is the nation’s first “city-led nurse residency consortium,” offers on-the-job training and support for new hires at 28 hospitals and facilities. The program aims to improve nurse retention rates, which has touted a 96+% retention rate year to date, compared to the 84% national average, City Hall announced on October 24.

“Nurses are often the first people you see and one of the last with whom you interact when visiting the hospital or an outpatient setting,” deputy mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said in a statement. “This residency program provides an important structure to support, attract, and retain the city’s nurses.”

The effort, which the Adams administration claims saves health systems “tens of millions of dollars,” comes after hospitals struggled to attract and retain employees in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only did healthcare workers experience burnout en masse, but the city also reported a loss of nearly 1 million jobs during the pandemic, according to City Hall.

Adams, who was elected in November 2021, said he aims to “support 30,000 current and aspiring nurses over the next five years,” and said the milestone “delivers” on this goal.

More than 1,700 nurses have completed the yearlong program at 18 NYC Health + Hospitals facilities, helping the municipal health system increase its retention rates by over 40%, according to City Hall.

The program has also saved the public hospital system more than $42 million in “recruitment cost avoidance,” Natalia Cineas, NYC H+H SVP and chief nursing executive, said in a statement.

Beyond NYC H+H, other participating hospitals include Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, Maimonides, Mount Sinai, and NewYork–Presbyterian.