At Scripps, our nurses find the education, skills and emotional support they need to serve the San Diego community. Through continuing education and professional development opportunities, we help both new and experienced nurses become safe and competent clinicians.

Our programs include, but are not limited to:

Connection and mentorship with nursing leaders

Our hospitals offer direct communication between clinicians and leadership through shared governance and staff councils.

The Other Side of the Fence Program

Scripps employees can apply for the opportunity to shadow someone in another department for four hours. These opportunities are offered to employees who may be considering shadowing those in specialty nursing roles, including the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) role, to see if it is something they’d like to pursue.

Reach for the Stars (Nursing Scholarship)

The Reach for the Stars Nursing Scholarship Program is designed to help meet the demand for nurses by educating registered nurses (RNs) throughout the United States. The scholarships are funded by anonymous benefactors in honor of family members who were nurses and all nurses making an impact in their communities. Each year, this scholarship program awards 30 full-tuition scholarships to Scripps employees interested in becoming RNs.

Our nurses participate in the San Diego Evidence-Based Practice Institute, where they learn how to turn clinical questions into meaningful improvements in patient care.

Through mentorship and hands-on projects, nurses gain the skills to evaluate research, implement best practices and lead practice changes that benefit patients and families. 

Additionally, the Scripps medical library supports nurses in delivering evidence-based care by providing access to leading medical databases, journals and expert research support.

Where you start your nursing career can make all the difference. Scripps is committed to meeting the needs of new graduates by combining classroom learning, skills practice and individual clinical instruction. For more information, visit the new graduate RN and training programs page.

Some of our RN transition programs for new graduates include:

• New Graduate RN Residency
• Emergency RN
• Intensive Care Unit RN
• Operating Room RN
• And more

We have clinical nursing specialists, from advanced practice nurses to nurse coordinators, bringing our patients the best care available.

Our nurses practice in a wide variety of specialties, including:

• Bariatric Surgery
• Cardiac Services
• Cath & Electrophysiology Lab & Interventional Radiology
• Critical Care
• Diabetic inpatient management
• ECMO
• Emergency, Trauma, and Observation Services
• Heart Failure
• LVAD
• Med-Surg
• OB-GYN
• Oncology
• Orthopedics
• Step-down
• Stroke program
• Structural Heart
• Vascular Surgery
• And more

Serving our communities through volunteering allows our nurses to learn new techniques, hone skills and improve the health of our communities.

Opportunities to impact San Diego communities include:

Eric Paredes Save a Life Foundation 

In 2009 Eric Paredes was a healthy 15-year-old athlete who died unexpectedly after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). A silent killer among the youth, SCA is often caused by undiagnosed, asymptomatic conditions. Eric's parents Hector and Rhina Paredes established the foundation in his honor to spread awareness and education to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families.  The Eric Paredes Save a Life Foundation provides free heart screenings to teens 12 years and older. These screenings are done at various locations across the county.  Eric's mother Rhina is a nurse at Scripps, and the foundation's medical director is Dr. John Rogers, a cardiologist at Scripps.

Mercy Outreach Surgical Team

The Mercy Outreach Surgical Team (MOST) is a volunteer surgical team based out of Scripps Mercy Hospital. Since the program's inception, the team has performed surgeries for more than 15,000 children. MOST makes one-week trips to different cities in Mexico twice a year, as well as regular weekend trips to Baja. Each team comprises approximately 40 to 50 volunteers. They work at a local hospital in Mexico and bring all necessary durable and disposable supplies to set up the OR suite.

Stop the Bleed

The American College of Surgeons' Stop the Bleed program aims to reduce fatal injuries by training the public in hemorrhage control. It's the largest global provider of bleeding control training, empowering anyone to save a life by learning three basic actions to control severe bleeding in an injured person.