Supporting new graduate nurses making the transition to rural nursing practice: views from experienced rural nurses

Abstract

The findings can be used by rural health services and experienced rural registered nurses to assist in implementing adequate and timely support for new graduate nurses.

An integrative review of rural and remote nursing graduate programmes and experiences of nursing graduates

“…To further exacerbate this intense period, it appeared that the senior nurses had unrealistic expectations of the new graduates. New graduates in the rural sector were expected to “hit the ground running,” accept full responsibility for patients and to be accountable for a full patient load as soon as possible, with little support when left as the only registered nurse on the ward (Lea & Cruickshank, , , ). The responsibility of the new graduate nurse extended to supervising nursing students early in their graduate programme which only served to prolong their feelings of transition shock (Lea & Cruickshank, ).…”

“…Due to the shortage of staff in rural areas and inadequate skill mix, orientation was not often delivered and one‐on‐one support was absent at the ward level (Lea & Cruickshank, , ; Mellor & Greenhill, ). New graduates found that clinical support was ad hoc or that they had to search for support (Lea & Cruickshank, , , ; Mellor & Greenhill, ; Ostini & Bonner, ) what Johnstone, Kanitsaki and Currie (as cited in Lea & Cruickshank, ) refer to as “self‐support.” Studies from NSW revealed that when the new graduates asked for support, they were met with friendly and helpful staff; however, self‐support was only successful if the new graduates knew when they needed clinical support and if they were confident enough to ask (Lea & Cruickshank, , , ). The success of self‐support also varied depending on senior staff working on a shift with the new graduates and not all staff were approachable (Lea & Cruickshank, , , ; Mellor & Greenhill, ; Ostini & Bonner, ).…”

“…Lea and Cruickshank () identified that there was a lack of formal support and little feedback for new graduates. There was no time for ad hoc or on the ward educational support, and any attempt made by senior nurses to address this was problematic in the rural environment due to the lack of resources (Lea & Cruickshank, ).…”

“…Lea and Cruickshank () identified that there was a lack of formal support and little feedback for new graduates. There was no time for ad hoc or on the ward educational support, and any attempt made by senior nurses to address this was problematic in the rural environment due to the lack of resources (Lea & Cruickshank, ). Lea and Cruickshank (, ) and Mellor and Greenhill () found that new graduates were disappointed with the lack of formal feedback on their clinical practice, and they often had no idea if expected objectives were being met.…”

Challenges of fresh nursing graduates during their transition period

“…Their stress as qualified nurses comes from excessive workload in the ward. [7,8] They also express challenges in managing and prioritizing routine work and heavy workloads in the first few months. [3,6] Another study showed that the nurses working in general medical or surgical wards have high stress levels due to heavy workloads.…”