The experiences of newly qualified children’s nurses during their transition into children’s community nursing teams

Darvill, AL; Fallon, DM; Livesley, J

Abstract

This paper describes a qualitative research study into the experiences of newly qualified children’s nurses during their transition into children’s community nursing teams in England. The study took place at a time when the recruitment of newly qualified children’s nurses into children’s community nursing teams was not only a new professional endeavour, but one that met with some resistance due to the prevailing attitude that the community was an inappropriate first post destination. The transition experience of their contemporaries, whose first post was within hospital based services, has been well researched (e.g. Boychuk Duchscher 2007). Indeed the resulting notion of “reality shock” (Kramer 1974) led to major changes in clinical practice. However, little research attention has been paid to the experiences of transition of those who take up first posts in the community. The findings indicate that there were factors that both facilitated and hindered the development of their professional identity. Of significance is that the participants did not report the shock like reactions described by their contemporaries in acute hospital based settings. They described an ideal transition experience as one which included a period of lengthy and consistent support, the allocation of contrived workloads and continued support during independent visits. However, this ideal experience of transition was often disrupted through circumstances such as perceptions of being undervalued, lack of colleagues’ acknowledgement of the value of their undergraduate learning experiences and the allocation of complex cases requiring skills and knowledge beyond their competence level. The notion of an ideal experience of transition which accommodates individual differences during transition offers a pragmatic solution to other children’s community nursing teams seeking to ease the transition experience of newly qualified children’s nurses. It also challenges the assumption that they are an inappropriate first post destination for newly qualified children’s nurses.

Citation

Darvill, A., Fallon, D., & Livesley, J. (2014, September). The experiences of newly qualified children’s nurses during their transition into children’s community nursing teams. Presented at UK Association of Chief Children's Nurses Children's and Young People's Nursing International Conference “Building the evidence base for practice”, Jersey

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: UK Association of Chief Children's Nurses Children's and Young People's Nursing International Conference “Building the evidence base for practice”
• Conference Location: Jersey
• Start Date: Sep 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Mar 3, 2015
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference