Art & science service evaluation
44 january 8 :: vol 28 no 19 :: 2014 © NURSING STANDARD / RCN PUBLISHING
Abstract
Aim To evaluate nurses’ and ward managers’ experience of the Nurse
Foundation Programme (NFP), with a view to improving future
programmes. The NFP was introduced in 2008 to provide newly
qualified nurses with standardised training and support during their
first year post-training in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
Method Anonymous evaluation forms were analysed and interviews
with nurses and ward managers were undertaken. Evaluation form
data were descriptively analysed, and interviews and free text
comments were thematically analysed.
Findings The NFP was highly valued by attendees, offering timely
knowledge and support for newly qualified nurses. Ward managers
reported that the NFP made it easier to release time for newly
qualified nurses to participate in training, while helping with skill mix
decisions on the ward.
Conclusion The centrally planned and coordinated NFP was positively
evaluated and led to a standardised approach to training and support
for newly qualified nurses.
Authors
Aled Jones
Senior lecturer, School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University.
Judith Benbow
Lecturer and associate director of international and engagement,
School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University.
Rachel Gidman
Senior manager for nurse education, Cardiff and Vale University
Health Board.
Correspondence to: jonesa97@cardiff.ac.uk
Keywords
Newly qualified nurses, preceptorship, service evaluation, training,
workforce evaluation
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Provision of training and support
for newly qualified nurses
Jones A et al (2014) Provision of training and support for newly qualified nurses.
Nursing Standard. 28, 19, 44-50. Date of submission: August 8 2013; date of acceptance: October 7 2013.
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT more than half
of the nursing workforce is newly qualified,
therefore ensuring the smooth transition from
student to qualified nurse should be a priority for
nurse managers and the NHS (Whitehead and
Holmes 2011). Health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s
recommendation that nursing students in England
work as healthcare assistants for one year before
undertaking their training, focused debate on the
commencement of nurses’ careers (Gillen 2013).
The transformation from nursing student to
registered nurse involves a change in status, role
and responsibility, and this is seen as a period of
uncertainty, stress and disorientation for newly
qualified nurses. Kramer (1974) described how
newly qualified graduate nurses experienced ‘reality
shock’, characterised by the feeling that they were
inadequately prepared for their new role. Equivalent
experiences of newly qualified nurses are captured by
Duchscher’s (2009) transition shock theory based on
long-term research with nurses in Canada (Figure 1).
Duchscher’s (2009) theory proposes that newly
registered nurses undergo a process of physical,
emotional, intellectual and socio-developmental
adjustment that is motivated and mediated by
changing roles, relationships, responsibilities
and levels of knowledge in their personal and
professional lives.
Although Kramer’s (1974) and Duchscher’s
(2009) work is based on the experiences of
north American nurses, similar issues have been
identified in studies from the UK, Australia and
Ireland, with problems during transition being
partly attributed to variable levels of support by
employers during the initial post-qualification
period (Mooney 2007, Higgins et al 2010).
The transition from student to registered
nurse involves a process of learning, adjustment
and socialisation to the new workplace. It is
important that the employer supports the newly
qualified nurse through this process because
early experiences in the workplace may be strong
predictors of future work satisfaction, with negative
early experiences potentially having a significant
negative effect on future career development
(Banks et al 2010, Jamieson et al 2012).
© NURSING STANDARD / RCN PUBLISHING january 8 :: vol 28 no 19 :: 2014 45
Preceptorship
In recognition of the transition shock experienced
by newly qualified nurses, healthcare organisations
provide programmes of support for new staff
members. For example, preceptorship programmes
and online learning have been designed to assist new
practitioners with the transition to registered
practitioner (National Nursing Research Unit
(NNRU) 2009, Jamieson et al 2012). The term
preceptorship in the UK is associated with providing
support for newly qualified nurses and other
healthcare practitioners, whereas outside the UK,
especially in North America, preceptorship is often
associated with support given to nursing students.
Preceptorship is defined by the Nursing and
Midwifery Council (NMC) (2006) as a process
that provides support and guidance, enabling new
registrants to make the transition from student
to accountable practitioner. The NMC (2006)
recommends that all new registrants be offered a
period of preceptorship when starting employment.
This is also recommended by the Department of
Health (DH) (2010) in England, and the Welsh
Assembly Government (2009), which advocates
that nurses in Wales ‘be afforded protected
learning time in their first year of practice and
the support of a preceptor’. However, a review of
preceptorship undertaken by the NNRU (2009)
concluded that preceptorship programmes were
not universally available. Furthermore, periods
of preceptorship ranged from one month to more
than six months, and satisfaction was greater
with preceptorship of four months or longer than
with shorter periods. The review also concluded
that few robust studies focusing on preceptorship
existed in the UK or elsewhere.
Disorientation Confusion
Relationships
Transition
shock
Roles
Knowledge
Responsibilities
Loss
Doubt
Physical:
Relentless and terminal physical, emotional
and intellectual exhaustion.
Energy consumed to conceal feelings and
transition responses.
Physical demands of acute care
Unaccustomed to full shift presence
or full-time shift rotation.
Emotional extremes.
Maladjustments to shift work.
Sleeplessness – active dreaming.
Poor nutrition and lack of exercise.
Change to social habits and routines.
Socio-developmental:
Changing social structures.
Role uncertainty and unfamiliarity.
Inadequate and insufficient guidance and/or
assistance.
Professional culture naiveté.
Intra-interdisciplinary relations.
Intergenerational dynamics.
Leadership and delegation skills lacking.
Oppressively hierarchical work structure.
Evolving self – separation from dependent role.
Loss of known supports.
Insufficient exposure to role models.
Emotional:
Labile nature of emotions.
Emotions variable in origin.
Intense and overwhelming period.
Extreme sensitivities.
Seeking validation and reassurance.
Look for familiar protective nurturing.
Require positive reinforcement.
Fears of failure or incompetence.
Fears of disappointing family, friends and
colleagues.
Loss of control.
Lack of support.
Intellectual:
Reality shock – theory/practice incongruencies
and practice improprieties.
Lack of knowledge of transition.
Lack of awareness regarding graduate roles
and responsibilities.
Limited practice aspect/pattern recognition.
Limited tacit/practical knowledge.
Practice inconsistency/unpredictability.
Limited decision making and clinical
judgement capacity.
Organisational naivety.
Professional role-relations immaturity.
Limited performance feedback.
Transition shock theory
FIGURE 1
(Duchscher 2009)
46 january 8 :: vol 28 no 19 :: 2014 © NURSING STANDARD / RCN PUBLISHING
Art & science service evaluation
Cardiff Nurse Foundation Programme
Approximately 150 newly qualified nurses are
recruited by the Cardiff and Vale University
Health Board (UHB) in Wales each year when they
graduate from pre-registration nursing courses.
A review, undertaken in 2008, of support and
training offered to newly qualified nurses across the
UHB found significant variation in the type and
duration of training offered by hospital wards and
departments. For example, some wards delivered
initial orientation and induction programmes for
newly qualified nurses allied to mandatory and
essential training provided by the UHB, such as
medicines management or infusion pump training.
Other areas had no orientation or induction
programmes in place, offering mandatory training
courses only for newly qualified nurses. In addition,
several ward managers experienced difficulties
booking and releasing staff to attend mandatory or
essential training because these were arranged at
relatively short notice.
As a result of these factors, some nurses received
little or no training and support when starting their
first nursing posts. The relatively small numbers
of newly qualified nurses undertaking induction
training in many departments was also considered
an inefficient use of time and resources, resulting in
duplication of effort and the potential for variation
in the content, delivery and outcome of training.
Following the review, a centrally designed and
co-ordinated approach to training and support of
newly qualified nurses was mandated by senior
nursing management. Consequently, the UHB’s
learning, education and development department,
and a group of professional and practice
development nurses, designed the Nurse Foundation
Programme (NFP), which offers orientation,
induction, and training and support. The first NFP
cohort began in October 2008, and two cohorts
per year (in October and April) have participated in
the NFP since that time; 577 newly qualified nurses
have completed the programme to date.
The NFP comprises 13 study days that span the
nurse’s first year of employment. The c