The process of transition to a new workforce environment has always been one of the most challenging aspects of starting a professional nursing career. Thus, one of the subject-oriented studies conducted by Maria et al. (2020) was aimed at defining the transition challenges encountered by nurses who had approximately one year of post-graduate professional experience. In terms of the study, the major research question was the identification of both physical and emotional hardships for new graduate nurses after their degree completion. In order to obtain exhaustive data on the question, the researchers have conducted semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with fourteen nurses working in Hong Kong’s medical facilities (Maria et al., 2020). The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed with the help of content analysis, where the researchers had to read the interview outcomes and identify pieces of information relevant to the research question.
The results of the study have helped outline the major professional and emotional factors that contributed to the process of the nurses’ transition to the workforce. Hence, according to the results, those factors included the level of professionalism, individual adjustment abilities, communication within the team, and workplace support (Maria et al., 2020). The follow-up discussion of the results estimated an increased need in the educational establishments to pay more attention to the notion of the student’s emotional well-being and transition preparedness. In fact, the new graduate nurses’ dynamic capability was also tackled by other scholars who proposed the implementation of mentorship programs as one of the solutions for steady transition (Hofler & Thomas, 2016). The future implications of the qualitative study discussed encompassed the possibility to integrate the research into a more comprehensive study analyzing the emotional state of nurses depending on the number of years in the workforce.
References
Hofler, L., & Thomas, K. (2016). Transition of new graduate nurses to the workforce: Challenges and solutions in the changing health care environment. North Carolina Medical Journal, 77(2), 133-136. Web.
Maria, H. S. Y., Mei, W. L., & Stanley, L. K. K. (2020). The transition challenges faced by new graduate nurses in their first year of professional experience. GSTF Journal of Nursing and Health Care (JNHC), 5(1). Web.