Nursing the Future: Building New Graduate Capacity (Part I).

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Management
• Professional Transition

Background:

• Newly graduated nurses experience significant transition challenges impacting their physical, social, professional, and practice environments.
• Factors like COVID-19, global insecurity, and staffing shortages intensify the burden on emerging nurses.
• Duchscher's Stages of Transition Theory and Transition Shock Model provide a theoretical framework for understanding and supporting this critical period.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore novel support strategies developed for new graduate nurses.
• To examine the delivery of these supports through partnerships with nonprofit groups, government bodies, and employers in Canada.
• To underscore the importance and urgency of supporting new nurse transitions.

Main Methods:

• Review of historical development of transition theories (Duchscher's Stages of Transition Theory and Transition Shock Model).
• Exploration of newly developed support initiatives for new graduate nurses.
• Analysis of partnerships involved in the development and delivery of these supports across Canada.

Main Results:

• Novel support strategies for new graduates have been developed and implemented.
• Partnerships involving nonprofit groups, government bodies, and employers have been crucial in delivering these supports.
• Evidence suggests that supporting new nurse transitions is anecdotally, evidentially, and fiscally advisable.

Conclusions:

• Theorization of the nurse transition process offers key areas for support.
• Collaborative efforts across sectors are vital for effective new graduate nurse support.
• Addressing human capital pressures necessitates increased urgency in supporting emerging nurses.