Nursing Education
Learn and grow in your professional practice
Hennepin Healthcare offers education to nurses throughout the organization in a variety of ways. From new hire to the experienced nurse, from ambulatory settings to critical care, there is always something available for nurses to learn and grow in their professional practice.
Nursing Orientation
On hire, the new nurse is welcomed into Hennepin Healthcare with New Employee Orientation, then Nursing Personnel Orientation (NPO). Depending on your specialty, you will go through between 2-3 days of speakers, skills practice with the equipment and supplies used at HHS, and simulation education.
After NPO, you will participate in education about your specialty, acquainting you to some of the specific tools, procedures, and policies that you will need.
Nurses new to a specialty will continue their education with a Fundamentals course, which consists of classes and practice that may be 2-5 days in length or longer.
Classes that are intermixed is the clinical experience. Clinical orientation time is based on your level of experience as an RN and in the specialty. HHS works to match orientee to preceptor as much as possible, to include working the preceptors’ schedule. The orientee/preceptor dyad work to develop and verify competence in the skills, behaviors, and knowledge needed to work in the care area.
At the end of your orientation, you will meet with your care area leader to review your competency documents, discuss your readiness, and talk about next steps.
Nurse residency
Hennepin Healthcare offers a Nurse Residency Program to support all graduate nurses during their transition from student to professional nurse. All new graduate nurses hired will be automatically enrolled; a separate application process is not required.
The Nurse Residency Program starts with an Introduction to Nurse Residency class, taking the new grad on the first steps of professional practice. This class is scheduled during the first month of hire.
Starting during orientation, the nurse resident will go through a series of six class days, all designed to assist with the transition into practice. These classes are both hands on and discussion.
To assist new grads who had less clinical experience because of Covid-19 in 2020, HHS will be developing additional practicum time.
HHS hires new grads on a routine basis. New graduate positions are posted on the HHS webpage. Questions about positions and hiring should be directed to the Human Resources department.
Continuing Education
Nurses at Hennepin Healthcare have many opportunities for continuing education, including:
- Nursing and physician grand rounds
- Schwartz rounds
- Trauma informed care education
- Snapshot skills sessions
- E-Learning through the Cortex Learning Management System
- Elsevier Clinical Skills
- Conferences sponsored by: Trauma, EMS, Orthopedics
- TCHP Education Consortium – a partnership between the Minneapolis VA Medical Center and HHS to provide a variety of topics and specialties
- Virtual classes
- Trauma and Critical Care Education Series (TRA-CCS)
Certification
Certification is highly valued and encouraged at HHS. We offer a variety of options to take the exam for certification without prepaying. There are review courses available, with more planned in 2021/2022.
Testimonials
“I really enjoyed the program overall and felt like it really helped me to grow over the past year. I believe this program is important, especially working at a hospital like Hennepin Healthcare which is unique in the care we provide and the patients that we provide care for.”
What Sets Us Apart?
Level 1 Trauma Center with a variety of nursing specialty areas.
Nurse residents have opportunities to apply to work in a wide variety of specialty areas such as the Burn Unit, Hyperbaric Medicine, NICU and many others.
Patient Diversity.
Nurse Residents will acquire excellent skills by working with patients from a variety of cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Entry into resident program.
All Graduate Nurses who are hired at the hospital or clinics are automatically entered into the Nurse Resident program.
About Our Facility
The main HCMC campus is in downtown Minneapolis. Hennepin Healthcare’s Minneapolis campus spans five city blocks and houses in-patient and ambulatory services, our Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, and numerous specialty clinics. We provide the full spectrum of care for patients, from primary care to hospitalization through rehabilitation.