Effects of an Adaptive Education Program on the Learning, Mental Health and Work Intentions of New Graduate Nurses

Abstract

Health care workers are at a higher risk of psychological distress than ordinary people. Stress affects physical and mental health, and can even produce an intention to leave. The current training for new graduate nurses (NGNs) during this transitional period mostly focuses on the cultivation of professional ability, with less attention to mental health or emotional feelings, and thus there are insufficient structured support strategies. As such, this study explores the effects of intervention through an appropriate education program on the learning, mental health and work intentions of new recruits during the transition period. A pre-test and post-test for a single group was designed for new nursing staff in a large teaching hospital in northern Taiwan. The test period was from May 2017 to December 2018, and a total of 293 cases were accepted. A three-month adaptive education program was provided and evaluated in terms of: care for learning, care for health, improving professional ability, and individualized guidance on satisfaction, mental health disturbance and work intention. The new graduate nurses who received gentle care and counseling showed a downward trend in their BSRS-5 scores and statistical differences over time (p < 0.001). The higher the BSRS-5 score, the easier it is for new graduate nurses in acute and intensive care units. There is a tendency for turnover leave (p = 0.03). After the intervention of the overall plan, the turnover rate of new graduate nurses within three months was 12.6%, and the one-year retention rate was 87.9%. The adaptive education program uses multiple support strategies to improve learning and professional abilities, to reduce psychological emotions, and thereby to increase retention. Today will face new medical challenges; the education programs will become more important across clinical care settings, and it will be important to rigorously validate their performance in helping NGNs.

Retention of newly graduated registered nurses in the hospital setting: A systematic review

“…Chen et al (2021) describe a programme that provides instruction tailored to the skills, needs and interests of NGRNs, based on their learning styles. This programme addresses three parts: (1) learning care, in which teachers guide the nurse to understand and make good use of their own learning style for better performance; (2) care and monitoring of each new nurse's bio‐psycho‐social health by supervisors and peers; and (3) professional capacity enhancement by combining experiential and clinical learning.…”

“…Interventions included in the nine studies to retain NGRNs have addressed the development of three competencies, in isolation or combination: core, cross‐cutting and specific (Chen et al, 2021; Hu et al, 2015; Koneri et al, 2021; Krofft & Stuart, 2021; Pillai et al, 2018; Shinners et al, 2021; Torres et al, 2021; Wolford et al, 2019; Zhang et al, 2019). As seen in Table 5, all the studies have addressed the core competencies, five of them the first two, and two studies the three competencies.…”

The effects of proactive approach and integrated medical care on psychological distress in hospitalized patients: A single center experience

“…The scores were then tallied to obtain the total BSRS-5 score. Patients were further classified into three categories according to their baseline BSRS-5 scores: psychologically healthy (1-5), mild psychological distress (6-9), and moderate to severe psychological distress (≥10) (S. F. Chen et al, 2021).…”

Construction of a Training Content System for New Nurses in Cancer Hospital Based on Competency

“…New nurses need to understand a variety of treatment methods and adverse reaction processing, the management of related drugs, the maintenance of a variety of venous lines, the first-aid for a drug anaphylactic shock, observation and care of bone marrow suppression, prevention and care of radiation inflammation, psychological care for patients with facial defects, improvement in the hospice care for patients at the end stage, implementation of the nurse occupational protection, etc. Nursing postcompetency is based on the cognition and construction method, which reflects the ability of nurses to use various nursing skills, professional knowledge, values, critical thinking, and information as a whole ( 4 ). Multiple studies have shown that a competency-based training system can urge new nurses to improve their professional knowledge and skills, change their working attitudes, etc., and ultimately improve the level of work ( 5 , 6 ).…”