Smooth Transition For New Graduate Nurses To Professional Nursing

Critical Analysis

Introduction- The transition period of a graduate nursing student to a registered nurse is often fraught with several emotions such as, happiness, anxiety, excitement, uncertainty, and fear. It encompasses a situation where the new graduates question everything from their skill, to whether they have made an appropriate career choice, or if they will be able to adorn the role of a registered nurse successfully. In an ever altering health related environment, one feature that remains unaffected is the request for nursing professionals, and the necessity is graver now, than ever before (Thrysoe et al., 2011). Some of the common issues that are faced by the nurses during their transition encompass gaps in theory to practice, time management. Documentation skills, accountability, limited proficiency in execution and management of technical skills, decision making, and medicine administration. The essay will elaborate on the importance of an increased understanding in new graduate practice for a smooth transition to the role of a professional nurse.

Critical analysis- There is mounting evidence for the fact that clinical practices have been found to be under huge pressure to function in an efficient and lean manner, owing to the upsurge in regulatory oversight, shrinkage of reimbursements, and augmented consumerism (Ortiz, 2016). This pressure stresses that education programs should be able to produce nurses who demonstrate a readiness for their work, from the very moment they enter their practice domains. Hospitals usually find more number of patients suffering from multifaceted chronic conditions. Global statistics have demonstrated a disproportionately increased rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, end-stage renal disease, and mental illnesses (Mills et al., 2016). Most of these conditions can be accredited to the absence of adequate access to primary care services, restricted access to preventive services, boundaries in subsidy for care, and deep-seated social and cultural issues. Some of the clinical skills that a nurse must possess include acute care, treatment planning, life support, telemetry, case management, advanced cardiac life support, and patient or family education. The skill of treatment planning acts in the form of a blueprint and guides the care services that the nurses deliver to their clients (Ackley et al., 2016). Hence, the new graduate nurses are subjected to circumstances where they have to collaborate with other professionals, for the best interest of their patients. Similarly, the skill of acute care makes the nurses provide care to patients for a short period of time, following an illness or injury episode (Kramer, Brewer & Maguire, 2013). The nurses are also subjected to conditions where they have to focus on automated communication process for collecting measurement of patients at inaccessible or remote locations. Therefore, these situations make the nurses feel stressed and fatigued during their transition to practice (Leong & Crossman, 2015). Nurses are entitled with the competence of handling patients, relations with the providers and families, and leading the interprofessional team. Caka, Van Rooyen and Jordan (2015) stated that under circumstances that do not provide nurses with supportive relationships, new registered nurses who have the responsibility of caring for complex patients often feel overawed and fatigued, and they might suffer from momentous anxiety, all of which can result in attrition.

Clinical Currency and Non-Clinical Skills

Clinical currency comprises of a range of domains, beginning from simple provisions of providing direct care to the patients, till the expert knowledge on the particular area of nursing practice (Candela, Gutierrez & Keating, 2015). There is mounting evidence for the great benefits that are associated with provisions of direct care for patients, along with the up keeping of clinical ability, in clinical environment (Rush et al., 2013). Adorning the skills of clinical currency assists the nursing professionals to become credible. Furthermore, the fact that new nurses are also expected to display a commitment to lifelong learning urges them to demonstrate skills for enhancing their competence, relevant to nursing practice (Phillips et al., 2014). Hence, clinical currency and continuing formal education is imperative for nurses for maintaining clinical competency.

A range of non-clinical skills that are essential for new registered nurses to display following their transition include effective communication, critical thinking, flexibility, and attention to details. The duty of a nurse requires the professional to stay on the front lines of care. Research evidences also focus on the need of nurses to foster an open dialogue with patients and their families, so they fully understand their diagnosis, medication and any other medical concerns (Kensington et al., 2016).

Effective communication amongst fellow doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals is also crucial since the nurse has the responsibility of sharing the tasks of caring for all service users. Additionally, in the words of Walton et al. (2018) these new nurses are often subjected to conditions where they find themselves in charge of facilitating dialogue with the uncooperative and/or worried patients, their concerned family members, doctors and other allied health professionals. Owing to the fact that graduate nursing courses do not often comprise of situations where the nurses are expected to demonstrate strong communication skills, their sudden transition to professional practice results in challenging situation for the nurses.

Furthermore, although the baccalaureate courses have a definite time period, as a nurse, the professionals are never aware of the events that they might encounter on a particular day. Some of the last-minute changes regularly pose challenges, while the registered nurses juggle their multiple treatment plans, requests from physicians, interaction with patient families, and paperwork (Gaundan & Mohammadnezhad, 2018). Most nurses also agree on the fact that adaptability to the work pressure is one of their most significant non-clinical nursing skills. However, some of the strengths that are commonly recognised by new graduate nurses include a sense of self-understanding, empathy, communication skills, and professional and personal values. The nurses also have the role of being accountable for one’s judgments related to nursing, its omissions and actions. Hence, following immediate transition from the role of a nursing student to an RN, thy have to maintain their competency, while safeguarding the quality of patient care outcomes. The nurses are also entitled with the duty of adhering to the standards of the profession, besides being answerable to the patients who are affected by the nursing practice.

Discussion

Discussion- According to the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition learners are able to acquire their skills via practice and formal instructions. The four binary qualities that are elaborated by the model are namely, recollection, recognition, awareness, and decision. Hence, the abilities that are expected of new graduate nurses, in relation to development of clinical and non-clinical skills are associated with enhancement of expertise and change, with the nursing practitioner becoming more skilful (Lyon, 2015). Nurses having difficulty in understanding the ends of their practice often face difficult in understanding skills that are related to problem and interpersonal engagement. Hence, Dreyfus is able to provide a model related to knowledge and talent acquisition, relevant to the training of nurses in practical sense. The Benner’s 5 stages to becoming a professional nurse focuses on, novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and the expert. While the novice encompasses a nursing student in the initial years of clinical education, the advanced beginner refers to new graduates in their first job. The nurses lacking proficient flexibility, but having mastery on organizational and advanced planning skills form the third stage (Pasila, Elo & Kääriäinen, 2017). The proficient nurses learn from experiences, while the expert recognizes the resources and demands that helps them attain their goals. Hence, the two nursing theories are able to explain the steps that must be followed for a smooth transition to nursing practice.

Reflection- Preparation for nursing transition promotes competency. While reflecting on the challenges that are encountered during transition, I realized that all stages of professional role transition reflects in the form of a non-linear process that transfers the novice practitioner through professional, developmental, emotive, and intellectual skills. Furthermore, realised that transition shock will often emerge in the form of movement from the actual role of a nursing graduate to the moderately less acquainted role of a professional nurse (Hoare, 2016). My clinical placement helped me gain a sound understanding of what to expect in the practice setting. During my placement I have shown adherence to the standard 1 and 3 of nursing practice (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au, 2014). I have shown competence in developing my practice through reflection, respecting all cultures, accurately documenting patient information, adopting a lifelong approach and holding accountability for my actions. Hence, I am at the threshold phase of transition to nursing and intend to develop my clinical and non-clinical skills for a smooth transition to practice.

Conclusion- To conclude, the transition shock experienced by the nurses are generally embedded within the initial stages of transition of professional roles. Nurses are expected to display a range of clinical skills in their workplace. As a nurse, it does not come as a surprise that there are a plethora of practical nursing skills that are indispensable for executing the duties that are expected of a nursing staff. Most treatment plans help in typically highlighting the essential assessment information, defines the domains of concern related to the patient and also facilitate establishment of goals for the treatment of the patients. The new RNs are often found to act as the middleman, communicating critical material from the physicians to the patient. Thus it can be concluded that enhancement of skills and lifelong learning are imperative for averting the problematic experiences that can occur during transition from a student to an RN.

Reflection

References

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