2024 Nursing Annual Report

The Nurse Apprentice Program

The objective of the Nurse Apprentice Program at Children’s of Alabama (COA) is to provide nursing students with the chance to enhance their skills, expand their knowledge, and gain experience in pediatric care, all while earning compensation for fulfilling their clinical requirements during nursing school. Additionally, the program serves as a valuable recruitment tool for COA, helping the hospital facility connect with highly skilled potential employees. The Nurse Apprentice Program is an innovative way for Children’s to have a direct hand in the long-term education and training of our nurses. Students selected for the program complete hospital orientation and a unit-based onboarding with the unit educator of the hiring unit. The apprentices work a total of 24 hours per week fulfilling clinical hours and work requirements. Upon completion of the apprenticeship program, the student nurses agree to work on their unit for two years after graduation. Orientation time for the new-hire nurse after completion of the nurse apprentice program was significantly shortened. Long-term exposure to the facility and unit’s policies, procedures and workflow significantly reduced the education and time needed to orient the nurse apprentice after the hire date in comparison to the standard new- graduate nurse.