Interventions to support graduate nurse transition to practice and associated outcomes : a systematic review

Kenny, A; Dickson-Swift, V; McKenna, L; Charette, M; Rush, KL; Stacy, G; Darvill, A; Leigh, JA; Burton, R; Phillips, C

Abstract

Objective



The aim of this mixed methods systematic review was to: i) document the interventions that support and facilitate graduate nurse transition from university to practice in a diversity of healthcare settings and ii) to identify outcomes from graduate nurse transition interventions for the graduate, patient or client, and health service.



Design



This mixed methods systematic review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. All quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies were included if they met the inclusion criteria. The protocol was registered with Prospero.





Data sources



Primary research studies located in Medline, EmBase, CINAHL, Prospero, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo, and Web of Science (Social Science Citation Index). All quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies were included if they met the inclusion criteria. 



Review methods



Using a comprehensive search strategy, retrieved articles were screened by two reviewers at the title, abstract, and full-text stage. Reviewer disagreements were discussed until consensus was achieved. The well-validated Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess quality of the quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies. 



Results 



A total of 130 studies were included as the review dataset. There was a myriad of terms used to describe transition interventions, and programme length and settings varied. The content of transition interventions was not well defined, and there was a lack of studies outside acute hospital settings. Data collection methods varied widely. The majority of authors reported outcomes for the graduate or the graduate and service, with only one reporting outcomes for the patient or client. There was a significant variation in quality across the studies.



Conclusions



This review addresses a significant gap in the literature by documenting transition interventions in a diversity of health settings and outcomes from these interventions. Interest in transition to practice continues to rise, but there is an urgent need to conduct well designed, robust, and larger-scale studies at the national and transnational levels. 



Keywords - Graduate; transition; practice; systematic review.

Citation

Kenny, A., Dickson-Swift, V., McKenna, L., Charette, M., Rush, K., Stacy, G., …Phillips, C. (2021). Interventions to support graduate nurse transition to practice and associated outcomes : a systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 100, 104860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.104860

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 18, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Mar 13, 2021
• Publication Date: May 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 15, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 13, 2022
• Journal: Nurse Education Today
• Print ISSN: 0260-6917
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 100
• Pages: 104860
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.104860
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.104860
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/nurse-education-today/