Psychosocial Factors Impacting New Graduate Registered Nurses and Their Passage to Becoming Competent Professional Nurses: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Background

Health services offer new graduate registered nurses (NGRNs) employment primarily via specialized transition programs. However, findings continue to indicate that these programs are mostly counterproductive in the provision of a supportive environment. As a consequence, the health of graduates and safety of their patients is often at risk.

Purpose

The specific aim of this integrative review was to review, critique, and synthesize the existing literature with regard to the spectrum of factors and perceptions that have an impact on NGRNs and their passage to becoming competent professional nurses. The overall aim was to reconceptualize the approach to NGRN transition and develop new frameworks or perspectives.

Methods

This study used an integrative review of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the McGill Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. The CINAHL, PsycInfo, Google Scholar, and Ovid MEDLINE databases were searched for relevant quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies published in English in an academic journal between 2015 and 2021. Eligible studies were categorized conceptually in accordance within a recognized framework for integrative reviews.

Results

A total of 41 studies were included in the review. This review found that healthcare organizations are primarily solipsistic and provision of consistent quality support, or any support at all, for NGRNs was not assured. As a consequence, purposive psychosocial preparation of nursing students for self-support during transition is needed.

Conclusion

An intense focus on psychosocial preparation of nursing students in order to scaffold the transition to practice experience and thus ensure patient safety is advocated. Proposals for change are recommended at the undergraduate level, which includes comprehensive curriculum development in both theory and practice.