The impact of a structured onboarding program for newly hired nurse practitioners and physician assistants

The return on investment for onboarding programs and their effect on attrition and engagement within health systems across the United States are unclear.

The existing onboarding program for nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) at a hospital on the west coast was varied and lacked a clinician focus. A structured onboarding program was created to standardize their entry to our workforce.

A needs assessment was completed with a stakeholder focus group, for which an onboarding curriculum was then created. Participants completed presurveys/postsurveys during the data collection period as the primary outcome. A Plan-Do-Study-Act approach was used to revise session content and improve participant experience. Onboarding costs and attrition were tracked as secondary outcomes.

From July 2017 through June 2019, newly hired NPs and PAs were invited to participate in the program. Six quarterly cohorts attended five in-person 2-hour onboarding sessions over 12 months.

One hundred twenty-nine eligible NPs and PAs completed an anonymous pre/post Qualtrics survey. The aggregate responses were significantly improved using Fisher exact test. Measured onboarding value was not significantly changed. Mean pre-onboarding attrition was 10.3% compared with 4.5% for onboarding participants. The annual cost for onboarding participants was $63,470 versus $256,826 as the estimated mean cost of one separation within their first year.

Workforce engagement, standardized knowledge, and participant attrition revealed an improving trend with this structured onboarding program. The investment to formalize onboarding newly hired NPs and PAs was modest, and the findings suggest that an onboarding program has financial and engagement merit.