Orienting foreign nurse graduates through preceptors

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• International Nursing
• Healthcare Staff Development

Background:

• Staff development departments encounter challenges in orienting foreign nurse graduates.
• Foreign-trained nurses experience unique difficulties during their initial employment in the US.
• American nurses face obstacles when attempting to orient their international colleagues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the challenges faced by foreign nurse graduates during their orientation.
• To identify the difficulties encountered by American nurses in orienting foreign graduates.
• To propose solutions for improving the orientation process for international nurses.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of reported difficulties from foreign nurses.
• Qualitative analysis of reported difficulties from American nurses and preceptors.
• Literature review on best practices in international nurse orientation.

Main Results:

• Foreign nurses report issues related to cultural adaptation, communication, and understanding of the US healthcare system.
• American nurses experience challenges in communication, cultural differences, and providing effective guidance.
• Preceptors require specific training to effectively support foreign nurse graduates.

Conclusions:

• Effective orientation of foreign nurse graduates requires addressing both the nurses' and preceptors' challenges.
• Training nursing preceptors to understand and solve foreign nurse graduate problems is crucial.
• Improved orientation strategies can enhance job satisfaction and retention for international nurses and benefit healthcare units.