Introduction
The transition from education to work is challenging for new nurses who now have to use their theoretical knowledge in practice. Graduate nurses have to present themselves as fully capable professionals, and the lack of preparation can limit their success in finding a job. Moreover, many issues await nurses during their first year of employment. Thus, there exists a need for special programs that assist new graduates in assimilating. This essay explores the roles of new graduate nurses, the skills necessary for a positive start, as well as transition to practice programs built on the basis of preceptor support and quality assurance feedback loop.
New Graduate Nurse’s Roles
Nowadays, the healthcare environment requires a variety of nurses with vast general knowledge and specific skills. Although new graduates are not expected to take the position of leaders and managers, they have to recognize that nurses assume a significant amount of responsibility at all times. Nurses act as coordinators of care and members of an interdisciplinary team, connecting the patient to other providers. Moreover, nurses help patients transition out of a hospital and, in some cases, work in different settings. With the introduction of telehealth and other online-based medical services, new graduates may need to assume the role of innovators in their workplace.
Skills, Knowledge, and Attitudes
The abundance of roles that new nurses have to assume implies that recent graduates have to possess a variety of skills to excel in finding and keeping a job. First of all, the knowledge of nursing duties and processes, as well as a theoretical base of standards of care, is crucial for nurses (Mackay & Harding, 2019). Without a proper understanding of the profession, one cannot ensure a high quality of care. Next, professional nursing behavior is vital for one’s collaboration with other health providers and interaction with patients (Brown & Crookes, 2016). A nurse should understand the pillars of nursing ethics and the ways in which people exchange information in healthcare.
In this case, communication skills are another essential part of one’s preparation (Brown & Crookes, 2016). New graduates should know how to ask questions and how to engage with patients and colleagues. Some specific skills also include privacy during medication administration, dignity, transparency, and teamwork.
Personal Conversation
According to a conversation with a nurse leader, in her experience, new nurses often lack self-confidence and flexibility to respond to unexpected situations. As a result, some new graduates either ask too many questions, fearing that their actions are incorrect, or avoid asking questions entirely, thinking that not knowing something will worsen the opinion of the supervisor. This issue usually develops into stress for new hires, increasing turnover as a result. As mentioned above, new graduates may also be completely unprepared for new scenarios that they did not encounter during their training.
While this possibility should be expected, the inability to respond or adapt leads to stress and medical errors. As for the attitudes, the nursing leader notes that new nurses may underestimate how their profession will impact their personal life. Therefore, she argues that graduates should analyze how their dynamics with relatives and loved ones can change due to their new schedules and professional experience.
Issues and Challenges
There are many issues for which new graduate nurses have to prepare. Many of them are related to the transitioning process, during which many nurses experience great levels of anxiety and stress (Phillips et al., 2017). First of all, upon graduation, nurses usually possess a basic skill set that can be improved with specialization and experience. However, some organizations may expect new graduates to be completely prepared to become a part of their nursing teams immediately after being hired (Phillips et al., 2017). In other cases, an opposite challenge may arise where nurses overestimate their knowledge and are unprepared for criticism and challenging tasks (Phillips et al., 2017). Burnout and disillusioning are related problems – nursing is a profession that requires substantial physical, mental, and emotional labor.
Transitioning Strategies
To help new graduates in their shift from learning to working, health organizations can implement specific strategies. According to Silvestre et al. (2017), a transition to practice program that benefits new graduate registered nurses has to include orientation, preceptorship, feedback, and reflection. Thus, nurse managers accepting new graduates have to inform them about the workplace, other staff members, duties, communication channels, standards, policies, and other aspects of their particular practice setting. Furthermore, preceptorship was shown to allow new nurses to receive feedback as well as have a mentor whose experience contributes to knowledge and self-reliance.
Quality assurance feedback loops, for example, result in greater commitment, lower rates of turnover, and higher satisfaction scores (Phillips et al., 2017). The ability to reflect on one’s performance is another transitioning method that enriches nurses’ understanding of their profession.
Conclusion
Overall, new graduates face many challenges when transitioning from education to work. Some have unrealistic expectations, while others are insecure in their knowledge. A proper support program should be implemented in healthcare organizations to help new nurses gain a level of independence, realize their place in the industry, and overcome personal challenges. Nurses, in turn, should work on their communication skills, flexibility, critical thinking, teamwork, and reflection to meet the expectations of their future employers and managers.
References
Brown, R. A., & Crookes, P. A. (2016). What are the ‘necessary’ skills for a newly graduating RN? Results of an Australian survey. BMC Nursing, 15(23), 1-8.
Mackay, B., & Harding, T. (2019). Registered nurse’s perceptions of the transferability of new graduate registered nurses skills across healthcare settings. Open Journal of Nursing, 9(10), 1088.
Phillips, C., Kenny, A., & Esterman, A. (2017). Supporting graduate nurse transition to practice through a quality assurance feedback loop. Nurse Education in Practice, 27, 121-127.
Silvestre, J. H., Ulrich, B. T., Johnson, T., Spector, N., & Blegen, M. A. (2017). A multisite study on a new graduate registered nurse transition to practice program: Return on investment. Nursing Economics, 35(3), 110-118.