How can we best support registered nurses transitioning into emergency nursing?

One in four New Zealanders attend the emergency department, in New Zealand, each year. The emergency department is a dynamic and challenging environment, which requires nurses to have advanced assessment skills and clinical-reasoning. There is no universal approach in New Zealand to supporting registered nurses transitioning into emergency nursing. There is limited available literature, which explores this group of nurse’s experiences. This research project aimed to explore what registered nurses transitioning into emergency nursing found supportive in their transition and to identify the current supports that were available in their place of work. A qualitative method with a descriptive exploratory design was utilised to gain an understanding of participant experience and provided rich data for the study. Thematic analysis has been used to keep the data true to participant experience, this has also allowed the data to be organised and arranged into themes and sub themes. Findings from this research suggest that supporting nurses transitioning into ED requires an individualised approach. Participants have identified that the transition to emergency nursing is influenced by support from peers within the department and hospital and is influenced by prior professional and personal experiences. The dominant themes identified in this research are quality preceptorship, continuing education, and safety in practice. A recommendation for developing a New Zealand specific programme to support registered nurses transitioning to emergency nursing has been suggested, alongside a framework for transition to specialty practice that has been developed in Australia. This research adds to the paucity of knowledge surrounding registered nurse transition to emergency nursing and provides information for those who support nurses in emergency departments.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Nursing

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Eastern Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Richmond, Victoria

• New Zealand
• registered nurses
• emergency nursing
• emergency departments (EDs)
• transition
• support
• interviews

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10652/6318

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10652/6318