Are nursing graduates ready to work autonomously in a variety of health care settings? An Australia study

4^th International Conference on Nursing & Healthcare

October 05-07, 2015 San Francisco, USA

Karen Missen1, Lisa McKenna2 and Alison Beauchamp3

1Federation University, Australia 2Monash University, Australia 3Deakin University, Australia

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

The complexity of care for critically ill patients has increased significantly over the last decade with technological advances and the development of new drugs and surgical techniques requiring nursing graduates to be competent in advanced assessment and clinical skills within the general clinical setting. Evidence from the literature suggests that undergraduate nursing programs do not adequately prepare graduates to be clinically competent and that the transition from nursing student to graduate continues to be stressful and problematic. Registered nurses, midwives and enrolled nurses from Victoria, Australia were invited to participate in an online survey on the clinical competence of new registered nursing graduates. This paper reports on findings from this survey which rated new nursing graduates� abilities in the following areas; Routine physical assessments, clinical skills, medication administration, emergency procedures, communication skills, preparedness for nursing practice and coping with the work environment. Demographic data has also been analyzed to see if factors such as clinical role, geographical location and age group and workplace settings influence these expectations. Findings from this PhD research will provide evidence to support education providers and health care organizations in developing clinical education models that provide quality learning experiences for graduates to ensure they are clinically competent with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of patient care.

Biography :

Email: karen.missen@federation.edu.au