Professional Experience Placement

The conclusions of this paper by Duchscher (2009) is about transition shock, the term used to describe how new graduates engaging in professional practice roles for the first time can be confronted with a broad range and scope of physical, intellectual, emotional, developmental and socio-cultural experiences created by their change in role. This author concludes by emphasising the critical need to prepare senior undergraduates nurses for the escalating workplace expectations. Successful integration of new nursing professionals relies on educational curricula bridging the transition.

Walker and Campbell (2013) investigate the dimensions of work readiness. The authors investigated the relationships between work readiness, job satisfaction, work engagement and intention to remain. Data was collected through survey of graduate nurses.

Both these authors found that health graduate work readiness comprises generic skills and attributes beyond discipline-specific competence. Graduates who perceived themselves to be clinically competent were more satisfied with their job. A lack of perceived competence may undermine graduates’s competence. The negative impact of the perception of lack of expertise was reported to include feelings of anxiety, lack of confidence and anxiety. Social intelligence was found to positively predict work engagement. The ability to effectively communicate and work as part of a team are imperative attributes in the Australian health care system. These graduates may  make better adjustment to the workplace and feel more engaged with their work.

Last week’s blog about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation may be applied to these findings. Students who self-identify and self-regulate may be more likely to bridge the transition from educational curriculum to graduate nurse. Reported perceptions of competence may have developed in response to rewards, communication and feedback. The development of guided autonomy in the workplace as a senior student may also be a factor in assisting with preparation of work readiness. The multidimensional construct of work readiness is relevant to clinical supervision.

Clinical supervisors are vested with the responsibility of guiding and facilitating student progress in practice. They seek to engage students in work integrated learning that engenders the nexus of theory in practice settings. The development of understanding of what motivates students to learn and the impact of this guidance can be profound. Clinical supervisors do much more than provide learning opportunities related to skill acquisition or development. Clinical supervisors can enhance the learning process by supporting students to work on extrinsic motivation and strengthen their own intrinsic factors to ensure they are work ready at graduation.

If you have any comments about preparation for transition shock or work readiness you are welcome to post them here.