Leadership strategies to enhance the transition from nursing student role to professional nurse.

Abstract

As new nursing graduates enter the workplace, they are faced with demands that have the potential to be the most challenging they will face in their professional careers. Challenges include nursing shortages, increased patient acuity, and early patient discharges (Ellerton & Gregor, 2003). Moreover, studies indicate clinical nursing practice is extremely stressful for new graduates (Charnley, 1999; Dearmun, 1998; Delaney, 2003; Maben & Clark, 1998; Oermann & Moffitt-Wolf, 1997). Authors have documented concerns of graduating nursing students, which include being able to function as a competent professional registered nurse and worries about the work environment (McConnell & Dadich, 1997) as well as meeting the performance expectations of the workplace given new graduates' self-perceived lack of clinical experience (Heslop, McIntyre &e Ives, 2001). There is a need to examine what is known about the transition from nursing student to professional nurse. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature to identify current issues affecting the transition of newly graduated nursing students into their professional nursing roles, examine strategies designed to enhance transition, and to propose ways nurse leaders in education and service can collaborate to positively influence this process.