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Beyond the Platform: Expertise, Evidence, and Efficiency

Tailored services & more, designed to help nursing executives strengthen readiness, standardize practice, and confidently demonstrate impact.

Trusted by 2000+ Hospitals & Health Systems

Support to Help Nursing Leaders Move Forward Faster

Today’s nursing executives are balancing development, readiness, and regulatory expectations across increasingly complex systems. Our workforce development experts help reduce fragmentation, surface defensible insight, and ensure workforce programs are strategic, scalable, impactful, and always ready.

From Fragmented to Strategic Development

Move beyond disconnected clinical ladders, competencies, and professional development efforts to a unified, system‑wide approach that supports readiness, progression, and consistency across facilities, service lines, and roles — while advancing organizational goals.

From Low Visibility to Defensible Insights

Gain clear, credible visibility into workforce readiness and development by establishing evidence‑based standards and structured data that help leaders identify gaps, guide decisions, and confidently demonstrate impact to executives, boards, and regulators.

From Manual Gathering to Always-Ready Automation

Eliminate spreadsheets and last‑minute reporting by automatically mapping workforce development data into the required categories for accrediting and regulatory bodies — ensuring accurate, consistent, submission‑ready reports at any time.

What’s Included in Our Services & More

For over 20 years, we’ve partnered with nursing leaders to design and support workforce programs grounded in evidence— from building hundreds of clinical ladder programs to implementing competency standards across 90+ organizations.
Strategic Advisory Services ▾
Expert guidance to design, strengthen, and scale nursing workforce programs aligned to quality, readiness, and organizational priorities.
Evidence-Based RN Competencies ▾
Validated, evidence‑based RN competency frameworks that promote clinical judgment and reduce variation across foundational, multi‑specialty, and specialty practice.
Specialized Reporting ▾
Purpose‑built reporting that transforms workforce development data into clear, audit‑ready insight for accreditation, benchmarking, and executive decision‑making.

Strategic Advisory Services

Our board‑certified consultants are former hospital educators and senior leaders with deep experience in onboarding, competency assessment, ladder design, accreditation support, and regulatory alignment — translating best practices into programs that are practical and ready to scale.

Where and how we consult:
  • Clinical ladders, career pathways, and onboarding programs designed to intentionally build clinical judgment, support role readiness, and strengthen long‑term talent pipelines across nursing and ancillary roles.
  • Competency assessment, development, and curriculum design to establish system‑wide standards aligned to evidence‑based practice, regulatory expectations, and unit‑specific clinical needs.
  • Mentorship, preceptor, leadership, Magnet® and quality improvement programs that reinforce professional growth while integrating education, technology, and compliance into sustainable, defensible structures.

Evidence-Based RN Competencies

Standardize and accelerate competency transformation with ready‑to‑implement, evidence‑based RN competencies— built on Versant’s framework and aligned to ANA, QSEN, and regulatory standards— to promote clinical judgment, reduce variation in  practice, and improve quality outcomes.
  • Ready‑to‑implement RN competencies span 120+ competencies across 20+ departments, enabling system‑wide standardization across specialties without years of internal redesign.
  • Built on the Versant Healthcare Competency Solutions foundation and aligned to ANA, QSEN, and regulatory standards, these competencies are designed to develop clinical judgment— not just validate tasks.
  • Our standardized framework enables system‑wide competency consistency (with easy alignment for PTAP and TSAM) while being configurable for unit‑ and population‑specific needs, supporting seamless adoption across facilities, including newly acquired sites.
  • Used by more than 90 health systems over 20+ years, our evidence‑based RN competencies give CNOs confidence in clinical credibility, scalability, and long‑term sustainability.
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Specialized Reporting

Specialized reporting automatically organizes and maps workforce development data into the required formats for accreditation, benchmarking, and regulatory reporting— eliminating manual compilation and last‑minute preparation and ensuring ongoing compliance.
  • Automated, accreditation‑ready reporting that maps workforce data directly to the required categories forMagnet DDCT, NDNQI, CoC, The Joint Commission, and other regulatory bodies— replacing spreadsheets and manual data assembly with reports that are always ready.
  • System‑wide visibility into participation,progress, and outcomes across clinical ladders, competencies, onboarding, and development programs, with consistent categorization that ensures accuracy and defensibility at every level.
  • Configurable reporting aligned to organizational priorities that allows leaders to monitor readiness, identify gaps or delays, track trends over time, and respond to internal or external reporting requests with confidence.

Meet Our Clinical Experts

Our clinical expertise is led by board certified nursing leaders and former hospital educators who bring deep, real world experience to every engagement. This team partners closely with nursing leaders to design practical, evidence based programs that are aligned to regulatory standards and built to scale.

Larissa Africa, MBA, RN, CENP, FAONL, FAAN

Vice President, Healthcare Workforce Solutions

Larissa Africa is a nationally recognized leader in nursing workforce development and a pioneer in transition to practice and competency based models. Formerly President and CEO of Versant Healthcare Competency Solutions, she has shaped workforce development strategies used by health systems nationwide and continues to advise on strategic direction, product innovation, and thought leadership across onboarding, professional development, and clinical excellence. A widely published author and international speaker, Larissa is a Fellow of both the American Organization for Nursing Leadership and the American Academy of Nursing and serves in multiple national leadership roles supporting the nursing profession.

Tina Cheek, MSN, RN, NPD BC, CHCP, NEA BC

Senior Clinical Professional Development Specialist

Tina is a seasoned healthcare professional specializing in professional development, accreditation support, and workforce engagement. As a senior clinical professional development specialist, she has led successful accreditation efforts and partnered with organizations to design onboarding, competency, and education programs that strengthen clinical performance, engagement, and organizational outcomes.

Allison Wild, MSN, RN, NPD BC, EBP C, PCCN

Clinical Professional Development & Competency Specialist

Allison applies deep expertise in nursing education and competency management to help organizations design onboarding, transition to practice, and role development programs that promote safe, high quality, patient centered care. As a board certified specialist, she collaborates closely with leaders to ensure competency frameworks and education strategies are practical, evidence based, and sustainable.

Kristen Soegeng, DNP, MSN ED, RN

Clinical Development & Workforce Transformation Leader

Dr. Kristen Soegeng served as a Clinical Nurse Educator in the hospital while teaching as an Assistant Dean in academia. Her experience spans from managing the hospital new hire orientation and annual competency program, teaching courses, chairing the Assessment and Evaluation committee, standardizing, and developing policies and procedures, making visits to the BRN as well as managing accreditation survey visits.

Discover How We Make Transformation Simpler

Get a personalized walkthrough of how our platform supports your organization.

Success Stories

Built for the realities of healthcare work—hear from leaders who use StaffGarden to better support nurses and frontline teams.
We have had great feedback. The number one thing is the streamlined workflows, not only for our applicants, but for the leaders.
Amanda Weaver
MSN, BA, RN, NPD-BC, NE-BC
Senior Specialist, Nursing Professional Development, Parkview Health
It's accessible, people can do it from a phone or from home.
Jennifer Tudor
Magnet Program Director for a major hospital system in California
In the past, [the CLP] was just seen as extra work, but now I hear more comments on how much easier and nicer it is to start, maintain and advance, [it’s] a lot more positive… Paper was so much work that nurses shied away from it, but now that it's easier, people are more willing to join in and encourage others.
Emily Ganiko
Emergency Transport Nurse at a Major Pediatric Hospital in Southern California

Trusted By Leading Organizations

Frequently Asked Questions

Get quick answers to the most common questions about StaffGarden's platform, features, and support.

StaffGarden provides configurable, role‑based reporting and dashboards that give organizations clear visibility into competency progress, readiness, and risk—tailored to their specific programs and workflows. Standard competency management reports include real‑time status views for self‑assessments, missing or unassigned preceptors, remediation activity and trends, preceptor verification, and required forms. For organizations using tiered orientation models, tier placement reports help managers quickly identify who is nearing readiness for independent practice.

Leaders can also view competency performance and progression scores by division or region, facility, and practice setting—including domain‑level averages—supporting accreditation needs such as PTAP, audit and compliance reviews, and system‑wide readiness monitoring. All reporting is designed to reduce manual preparation while providing the flexibility to configure views and outputs based on organizational needs and priorities.

Reporting supports audit and compliance reviews, onboarding speed and readiness, and visibility into competency completion and gaps—while delivering role‑based insights for executives, NPD leaders, managers, and staff. Dashboards are designed to surface risk early, reduce manual preparation, and support continuous readiness across the organization.

StaffGarden supports smarter floating decisions by providing real‑time visibility into system-wide staff skills, achievements, competencies, readiness, interests, and growth ambitions—enabling easier, safer and more confident staffing alignment.

Yes. Automated reminders help prevent missed renewals, expired credentials, and overdue assessments—reducing risk and manual follow‑up.

StaffGarden reduces manual work and human error in competency management by standardizing how competencies are assigned, validated, documented, and reviewed across the organization. Automated workflows streamline preceptor assignments, competency assignments, validation steps, notifications, progress tracking, and note‑taking—ensuring everyone is working from the same expectations and practice standards.

By replacing paper‑based and ad‑hoc documentation with structured, digital competency validation, StaffGarden reduces inconsistent or insufficient documentation and ensures required evidence is captured clearly and consistently. Shared, real‑time visibility gives educators, managers, and leaders confidence in the completeness and quality of competency data—reducing rework, audit risk, and variation across units and programs.

Yes. StaffGarden supports backdating competency assignments where appropriate and learning coursework where accurate information is accessible within the learning management source. This is not mandatory and many opt out, but our integrations and implementation teams are experienced in helping organizations maintain accurate historical records during transitions from paper or legacy systems.

By consolidating insights from clinical ladders, competencies, ePortfolios, and integrated systems like HRIS and LMS into one place, StaffGarden gives leaders a continuously up‑to‑date view of staff capabilities, experience, and validated readiness. Because this data is embedded into everyday development requirements—with easy access and automated reminders to maintain—it stays current and reliable. This unified, real‑time insight enables faster, easier, and more confident staffing decisions—especially during float, surge, or redeployment—without having to piece together information from multiple systems or outdated records.

Most organizations choose not to migrate old paper competencies. Instead, prior competencies are marked as Externally Verified, allowing teams to start fresh with digital, standardized competency workflows moving forward—without the burden of converting historical paperwork.

Discover Resources from StaffGarden

Insights on the cutting edge of nursing leadership. Learn from StaffGarden’s clinical experts in healthcare workforce development.
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June 2026
Building Bridges: Academic-Practice Partnerships as the Future of New Graduate Nurse Preparedness
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Rewriting the Playbook: Building Confident Nursing Leaders and Competent Teams
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Transforming Nursing Professional Development at OhioHealth
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Enhance your hospital's workforce development strategies

Schedule a free consultation with our healthcare workforce development experts.

Enhance your health System's workforce development strategy

Schedule a free consultation with our healthcare workforce development experts and learn how you can:

  • Drive workforce efficiencies with precise intelligence and reporting that reveals hidden opportunities and blind spots, allowing you to focus your efforts in the right place at the right time.
  • Empower leaders to easily advance and retain engaged teams by motivating through an easy line of sight to career advancement, rewards, recognition, and potential.
  • Achieve clinical standards of excellence enabled through competency consistency and transparency across your workforce.
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