The transition from nursing student to practicing nurse: An integrative review of transition to practice programs.

The transition from student to novice is a difficult time. Although the novice nurse is excited to start working, the nurse struggles with acclimating to a new role with new responsibilities and the need to reconcile disparities between what was taught in school and what is practiced in the real world. To lessen the impact of the transition experience, health care organizations have implemented transition-to-practice programs including orientations, preceptorships, and residencies. Despite these efforts, if the novice nurse does not find these programs helpful, there is still a risk that the transition experience will not conclude with successful results. This integrative review examined qualitative studies that explored the transition-to-practice experience of novice nurses who participated in a transition-to-practice program provided by their place of employment. Thirteen articles met the criteria for this integrative review; seven themes emerged from the commonalities in the studies: socialization, professional growth, feeling supported, transition challenges, reflections, transition shock, and feelings. Though the transition period includes unique experiences for each novice nurse, the common feelings and needs identified in these studies require nurse educators and the healthcare organizations to ensure that novice nurses are prepared and given the tools to successfully transition to professional nursing practice.

Nonclinical Transition-to-Practice Courses: A Review of Course Content.

BACKGROUND: Both clinical and nonclinical transition-to-practice courses have been offered to facilitate the transition from student to novice nurse. PROBLEM: Nonclinical transition-to-practice courses are less widely discussed in the literature; thus, their content and effectiveness have not been examined. APPROACH: Academic institutions with baccalaureate nursing programs were surveyed to determine if they offered a nonclinical transition-to-practice course and to identify the associated content. OUTCOME: Of 19 responding institutions, 15 reported having a nonclinical transition-to-practice course. Eighty-seven percent of the courses address ethical dilemmas, and 80% include delegation, interview preparation, stress management, and work/life balance. CONCLUSION: Although schools of nursing are urged to address students' transition to practice, there is considerable variation in the nonclinical topics addressed. Research is needed to provide guidance to maximize the impact of these nonclinical transition-to-practice courses on new nurses' transition experience.

Evaluating the transition from nursing student to practicing nurse: An integrative review.

The transition period from student nurse to novice nurse is a stressful time. Patient outcomes, healthcare organizations, the new nurse, and the nursing profession can be negatively affected if the transition from nursing student to novice nurse is not a positive and successful experience. Currently, there are numerous interventions aimed at easing the transition for the new nurse with just as many instruments used to evaluate the success of the interventions in doing so. This integrative review examined quantitative studies that evaluated the outcomes of interventions implemented to ease the transition from student to professional nurse. The seven articles that met the criteria for this review discussed four types of programs and one curriculum revision and collectively used 14 instruments to measure a total of 18 concepts related to new nurse transition. Despite the significance of the studies' results that indicate interventions to ease the transition-to-practice experience are beneficial and can have a positive impact on areas such as job satisfaction and retention, overall findings from this integrative review suggest the need for greater standardization of concepts that should be evaluated and the instruments used to determine if new nurses are successfully transitioning into professional nursing.