Supporting nurses' transitions to new work practices: A qualitative study

This study explores nurses' learning needs and factors that facilitate the transition to new work practices in their existing work environments, including securing an informed understanding of concepts related to new work practice transitions.

Contemporary healthcare challenges require nurses to adopt new work practices to maintain quality patient care. This necessitates developing the capacities for those practices. Consequently, to meet clinical demands and provide high-quality patient care, nurses currently working in clinical settings require an understanding of and competence with new work practices.

An explorative qualitative study was undertaken.

Forty-one individual interviews with experienced nurses employed in five distinct Norwegian public healthcare settings were conducted between October and November 2023. Using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis, data related to the nurses' learning experiences was examined inductively and retrospectively.

Four main themes were identified as facilitating transitions to new work practices: i) situational understanding as a premise for cultivating learning; ii) providing opportunities to promote learning; iii) access to collegial support that fosters learning; and iv) individuals' belief as leverage for learning.

This study highlights processes of supporting and guidance appropriate for nurses currently working in clinical settings who are required to learn new work practices to remain currently competent, employable, and provide high-quality patient care. The findings provide new insight to healthcare policy makers, healthcare organizations, nursing leaders, nursing educators, and nurses with the intention of translating it to future learning opportunities and advancing continued professional development endeavors for experienced nurses.