Rural Texas hospital rebuilds pipeline post-pandemic

Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas developed a multifaceted nursing pipeline post-pandemic by creating an unlicensed assistive personnel program, implementing a student-nurse externship program, rebuilding its transition-to-practice program and recruiting internationally educated nurses. In particular, the student-nurse externship employed a blended learning platform to enable students to join orientation and didactic lessons asynchronously. Students completed the program in a timely manner by attending skills days on Saturdays and school during the week. The pipeline programs resulted in a continuous and dependable flow of nurses with various experience and skill levels. From February 2022 to 2023, the hospital reduced turnover from 20.8% to 14.1%, vacancy from 16.4% to 2.8%, and days to fill a position from 82.3 days to 49.1 days.