title: The use of reflective practice in new graduate registered nurses residency program.
abstract: New graduate nurses encounter emotional distress related to complex patient care situations and overwhelming workloads. Unequipped with coping mechanisms, new nurses verbalize difficulty feeling accepted in their assigned units. Self-perceptions of inadequacy and lack of independence contribute to anxiety. Consequently, hospitals are at risk for losing newly graduated nurses within the first year. The cost of losing new nurses is overwhelming to hospital institutions and further contributes to the looming nursing shortage. This article describes the use of a reflective practice exercise in a new registered nurse residency program in a magnet hospital to facilitate reflection and problem solving in the patient care unit. More research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of reflective practice in developing coping skills and retention rate in new graduate nurses.
authors.affiliation: James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, Florida, USA. lois.bolden@va.gov
authors.forename: Lois
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bolden
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cuevas
authors.forename: Lucille
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Raia
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meredith
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Prince
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004644:Emotions; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D017145:Models, Educational; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D010563:Personnel Turnover; D011340:Problem Solving; D012649:Self Concept; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D016526:Workload