The PC-NPR residency program is a one-year comprehensive post-graduate residency
to facilitate the transition of the new graduate NPs to competent, independent, and
professional NP's. VA Black Hills and South Dakota State University to assess skills, clinical simulation experiences, and reinforcement of
learning needs identified by the learner, faculty, and clinical preceptors. The residency
includes clinical practice experiences and didactic content, providing participants with a
depth of complexity in the care of veterans.
This 12-month residency consists of 40 hours per week, 32 hours per week in clinical
settings, and 8 hours of the didactic, conference, and skills training. The nurse
practitioner resident will be assigned a mentor in a primary care clinic and rotate
through core specialty care rotations. At the end of the core rotations, residents can
rotate through various elective specialty clinics while continuing in the primary clinic.
The PC-NPR program is structured to provide the resident clinician with broad exposure
to many areas of VA medicine and to refine and expand fundamental clinical skills,
professional development opportunities, and enhancement of leadership skills. The
residents will be trained in the Veterans Affairs Health System Patient-Centered Care
and Whole Health Model and Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring/Caring Science.
The NP residents may also complete Nurses Improving the Care of Hospitalized Elders
(NICHE) and select topics from the Geriatric Nurse Review Syllabus (GNRS) from the
American Geriatrics Society to develop skills to meet the needs of an aging population.
The residents will complete self-assessments to identify and target areas for individual
improvement in collaboration with the program faculty while working towards full
independent clinical practice.