Question

Competencies of new nursing graduates are of great concern. Explain the expectancy of using effective communication skills to provide safe care for patients

Answer 1

The nursing profession is continually evolving in terms of the technical, cognitive, and communication abilities required of nurses to provide safe and competent patient care. Thus, it is imperative that academia and the health care industry collaborate when preparing and training nurses in an effort to close the practice competency gap Therefore, in order for nursing schools to better prepare graduate nurses for entry into practice, it is important that they obtain information from the health care industry about the clinical components and skills that it expects newly hired graduate nurses to have. Nurse managers and nurse educators have produced little evidence-based performance outcome measures that define the minimum practice expectations of the health care industry toward new graduate nurses Therefore, the health care industry should define its practice expectations for new graduate nurses clearly so that nursing programs can tailor their instructional strategies.

Rationale Academia and industry have acknowledged the existence of a practice competency gap; however, neither stakeholder has produced best practice measures that would permanently close this gap Research has been directed toward gathering data from new graduate nurses, academic leaders, and leadership within the practice setting to identify the specific cognitive, technical, and communication skills that new graduate nurses lack within the first year of graduation

New graduate nurses are not adequately prepared for performing in the real world to meet the growing demands of today's complex healthcare environment, which compromises the quality of patient care. In addition, an online survey from more than 5700 frontline nurse leaders showed that many nurse administrators and nurse leaders were not fully satisfied with new graduate nurses' performance and imply that new graduates had difficulty with thinking critically on their feet or managing patient situations with quick and appropriate decision making. To close the gap between education and practice, researchers in academia and clinical practice collaborated and developed learning modules using patient conditions and other learning strategies to enhance clinical competency. It has been suggested that nurses need to prepare and possess certain abilities or competencies to perform tasks that will achieve expected outcomes under various conditions in the real world

To close the gap between education and practice, researchers in academia and clinical practice collaborated and developed learning modules using patient conditions and other learning strategies to enhance clinical competency.  It has been suggested that nurses need to prepare and possess certain abilities or competencies to perform tasks that will achieve expected outcomes under various conditions in the real world. The concepts of competence, competency, and performance have been widely discussed in the nursing profession

New graduate nurses mustmaster both psychomotor and critical thinking skills rapidly. Inadequate orientation leads to high turnover ratesfor new graduates. Health care leaders must examine thecompetencies needed for new graduate nurses to succeedin this environment. A critical review of studies was conducted to identify crucial competencies that areneeded for new graduate nurses to be successful. Six areas were identified in which new graduates lacked competence: communication, leadership, organization, critical thinking, specific situations, and stress management.Strategies were identified to improve the transition ofnew graduates. Hospitals should consider implementingnurse residency programs that include strategies for clearcommunication and conflict management, prioritizationskills, and leadership development. Schools of nursinshould add communication strategies to their current focus on critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and simulationscenarios and include situation specific skills such as end of life scenarios. Further research should focus on stressmanagement, leadership, clinical reasoning, and evaluation of measurement tools for new graduates.

The increasing number of new graduate nurses in the hospital setting directly affects patient care through nurse to patient ratios as well as new graduate nurse to experienced nurse ratios. The added responsibilityof new graduate nurses requires that these new hiresbe competent in many different areas of nursing. Manyhospital organizations use orientation programs or nurseresidency programs to ensure that new graduates areboth confident and competent. The main goal of thesenurse residency programs is to transition new graduate nurses into competent practicing nurses. Traditionally, nurse residency programs and nursing orientationprograms have focused on skill attainment and policiesspecific to that organization. Nursing competence is not only a professional standard described by the AmericanNurses Association but also a Joint Commission requirement. Kubin and Fogg described competence as “the ability to perform according to definedexpectations”.However, educators are starting to realize that the term “competencies” extends beyond skills and policies. Other elements of competency include values, attitudes, general nursing knowledge, and clinical skills .In currentnurse residency programs, hospital educators are showing broader foci by including competencies to furtherdevelop a new nurse’s critical thinkingof the complexity of defining competence, an emphasison the expectations of new graduate nurses must be in-troduced at the beginning of a nurse’s career. Measuringcompetence is becoming an important aspect of nurse orientation programs and performance evaluations ofnew nurses.Competence assessment should include psychomotor skills as well as cognitive abilities.