PORT ANGELES — Schelle Fitzpatrick had always wanted to work in a hospital emergency department.
She got her chance after graduating with an associate of arts degree in nursing from Peninsula College in June 2024 and earning a spot in Olympic Medical Center’s nurse residency program, which has her at the center of trauma, stress, acute illness, life-threatening conditions and medical crises every day.
She loves it.
“I like having the ability to help people at their worst,” Fitzpatrick said.
Since it began 2017, 132 nurses have graduated from OMC’s two-year program, which provides hands-on training for those who have finished their nursing studies but not yet embarked on their professional careers.
Nursing graduates come out of college programs with a command of fundamentals like vital sign measurement, patient assessment, administering medication, wound care and infection control.
Residency programs prepare them with real-world experience and allow them to focus on a speciality area.
Students who interview for the OMC program can train in areas like obstetrics, surgery, intensive care, home health and ambulatory care.
Those selected sign a two-year contract and become paid OMC employees. They work with department mentors, also known as preceptors, who play an integral role as educators and role models, and provide feedback, guidance and encouragement.
Having worked as a vet tech before becoming a nurse, Fitzpatrick said she was already familiar with handling agitated patients, dispensing medication and placing IVs, “although there was usually a lot more hair,” she said.
“People have been very supportive, and the program has been very, very valuable,” Fitzpatrick said.
Like Fitzpatrick, about 95 percent of OMC nursing residents come from Peninsula College — for which a great deal of credit goes to Olympic Medical Center Foundation health care scholarships.
“It has helped by bringing more graduates to OMC, and helped support growing the program,” said Vicki Swanson, OMC’s chief nursing officer.
The program also has drawn applicants from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Louisiana and Texas.
In addition to their clinical practice, nursing residents attend classes on medical policies and procedures, and they get a chance to share challenges and successes.
“We get to learn from each other,” Fitzpatrick said.
As part of their program, residents are required to develop an evidence-based quality improvement initiative that can be applied in a clinical setting. For her “Champion of Change” project, Fitzpatrick created a sticker that reminded practitioners about the use of calcium in the rapid infuser for patients with significant bleeding.
Some of these projects have become a standard part of OMC practices, said Gretchen Fleck, OMC’s director of education and organizational professional development.
Residency programs like OMC’s are considered an important strategy in reducing the nursing shortage that is expected to expand over the next 10 years as demand grows, while retirement and other factors contribute to a contraction in the current the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In 2024, there were 120,189 actively employed nurses in the state. Most were RNs (95,393), followed by certified nurse practitioners (13,923), licensed practical nurses (8,943), certified registered nurse anesthetists (1,242), certified nurse midwives (588) and clinical nurse specialists (100), according to the Washington Center for Nursing’s Washington State Nursing Supply Report.
The HealthResources and Services Administration projects that, by 2035, Washington will have the largest nursing shortage (26 percent) in the country.
“This is an opportunity for professional growth and development,” Swanson said. “But it’s also about growing the profession.”
The hope is that if nurse residents have a good experience at OMC, they will stay.
“We have about a 60 percent retention rate overall,” Fleck said. “I’m pretty happy with that.”
Even if they do leave, graduates of the OMC program have gone on to success elsewhere, she said, earning master’s degrees, becoming charge nurses and rising to become nursing supervisors.
“Nurses are the backbone of healthcare,” Fleck said.
Information about the OMC nurse residency program can be found at tinyurl.com/yc5kkw7p.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
