‘Doing it for real now’ – The transition from healthcare assistant to newly qualified nurse: A qualitative study

Abstract

Van Gennep's Rites de Passage and Bridge's work on organisational change were combined to theoretically analyse participants' accounts of transition. This illustrated that transition is not always linear with clearly defined and bounded stages but can also be seen as a more undulating or organic process with curving, slanting and overlapping phases. NQNs can therefore simultaneously occupy more than once phase in their journey of transition. Implications for students, higher education and practice are highlighted.

Learning transfer and transition of certified nursing assistants’ to baccalaureate nursing programs

“…Participants were able to take what they observed and learned in their work as CNAs, thus construct and transfer from their previous experiences, and develop new ways of thinking and processing information. Consistent with Draper, participants with a background as CNAs felt able to challenge and question more as they prepared for their new roles.…”

“…This may be related to variations of acculturation into a program and/or the manner in which clinical experiences are supervised and how boundaries are established in nursing programs in the U.S. According to Draper, the transition to a student role was sometimes complicated by working as a CNA. As seen in this study, shifting from working as a CNA to being a nursing student was difficult at times.…”

“…Within the past 15 years, limited research literature originating from the U.K. on CNAs returning to pursue a higher degree in nursing were located. These studies focused on the transition and professional socialization experiences from practice to student and student to newly qualified nurse, or the impact of working as a CNA while attending college . CNAs may experience a number of challenges transitioning to the student nurse role such as culture shock, role or identity confusion, and concern for long term acceptance as a professional nurse upon degree completion …”

Supporting new graduate registered nurse transition for safety: A literature review update

“…To date, several studies have demonstrated that expectations differ between NGRNs, senior nurses and preceptor/nurse educators (El Haddad, Moxham, & Broadbent, 2017;Lea & Cruickshank, 2015;Missen et al, 2016a) with NUMs often having the unrealistic expectation of NGRNs entering the workforce as experts (El Haddad et al, 2017). There are also higher expectations placed on NGRNs who have worked in nursing assistant roles during their undergraduate course and as such there was a reported inconsistency in the preceptorship provided to these nurses now in the registered nurse role (Draper, 2018;Law & Chan, 2016).…”

“…New graduate registered nurse (NGRN) transition has been the focus of research in recent years (Ankers, Barton, & Parry, 2018;Blevins, 2018;Draper, 2018;Missen, McKenna, Beauchamp, & Larkins, 2016;Missen, McKenna, Beauchamp, & Larkins, 2016;Ortiz, 2016), succeeding Kramer's seminal 1974 Shock. New graduate nurses transitioning from student to registered nurse face many challenges in practice however the provision of safe and efficient care of their patients is paramount (Duchscher, 2008(Duchscher, , 2009Myers et al, 2010).…”