An educational intervention to enhance nurse practitioner role transition in the first year of practice

Role transition is a natural process that occurs when the registered nurse pursues additional education to become a nurse practitioner (NP). Role transition generates feelings of anxiety and insecurity, leading to a longer and more tumultuous adjustment. This study investigated whether an evidence-based role transition webinar would support NP role transition during this critical period.

This study was a nonrandomized, pretest-posttest, and single-group study using a convenience sample to address the research question: "Does completion of a role transition webinar enhance the perception of new NPs of their ability to perform well in their role?"

The educational webinar was shown to have a positive influence on some aspects of the participant's reported perceptions of NP role transition. Having practical and assessable educational interventions to optimize NP role transition and determining factors that contribute to the success of these interventions would be prudent.

This is the first quantitative study to investigate the positive association between an online educational intervention and NP role transition. A timelier and less tumultuous transition would allow NPs to perform more effectively in their new role.