No abstract

Studies on methods to share nursing and learning experiences with preceptors are lacking. This study was conducted to determine the preliminary effects of developing and applying a reflective practice program for preceptor nurses who experience stressful situations to convert negative emotions into positive ones. This study was conducted over 12 weeks from March to May 2022 on 47 participant nurses in South Korea. Preceptor Reflective Practice Program (PRPP) was conducted in parallel with writing a reflective journal and a reflective practice workshop. Data collection was integrated through quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires on stress coping, the burden of preceptors, social support, and emotional intelligence, and analyzed by SPSS WIN 26.0 program. The questionnaire data were analyzed after the preceptor nurses had written a reflective journal. Stress coping, social support, and emotional intelligence significantly increased in preceptor nurses after participating in the PRPP. This study found that the PRPP helped nurses improve their emotional intelligence through reflective practice and convert stress into a more positive direction. Therefore, at the organizational and national levels, a reasonable compensation system to provide support workforce and to the work of preceptor nurses should be established.

This study aimed to identify keywords, core topic areas, and subthemes by analyzing feedback journals written by preceptor nurses to new nurses during the preceptorship period and to derive implications through word clustering. A total of 143 preceptor nurses' feedback journals for new nurses from March 2020 to January 2021 were converted into a database using Microsoft Office Excel. Text network analysis was performed using the NetMiner 4.4.3 program. After data preprocessing, simple frequency, degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, and community modularity were analyzed. In the feedback journals, the most central words were “study,” “medication,” “practice,” “nursing,” “method,” “need,” and “effort,” whereas frustration, “new nurses” had low centrality. Five subthemes were derived: (1) learning necessity to strengthen new nurses' competency, (2) independence of new nurses, (3) emphasis on accuracy in nursing skills, (4) difficulties in understanding the nursing tasks expected of new nurses, and (5) basic competency of new nurses. The results of this study highlighted the experiences of new nurses and allowed for an assessment of journal feedback content provided by preceptor nurses. As such, the study provides basic data to develop a standardized education and competency empowerment program for preceptor nurses.

This study analyzed the contents of critical reflective journals written by new nurses during their orientations using a text network. This study aimed to find ways to reduce turnover and improve clinical field adaptability among new nurses. The authors analyzed the content of reflective journals written by 143 new nurses from March 2020 to January 2021. Text network analysis was performed using the NetMiner 4.4.3 program. After data preprocessing, frequency of occurrence, degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, and eigenvector community were analyzed. In total, 453 words were extracted and refined, and words with high simple frequency and centrality were “incompetence,” “preparation,” “explanation,” “injection,” “time,” “examination,” and “first try.” “Medication” had the highest frequency of occurrence, and “incompetence” was the most important keyword in the centrality analysis. In addition, component analysis and eigenvector community analysis revealed three sub-theme groups: (1) basic nursing skills required for new nurses, (2) insufficient competency, and (3) explanation of nursing work. Significantly, this study is the first to use the text network method to analyze the subjective experiences of the critical reflective journals of new nurses. In conclusion, changes are needed to improve the education system for new nurses and promote efficient sharing of nursing tasks.