Qualified nurses' rate new nursing graduates as lacking skills in key clinical areas.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of qualified nurses on the abilities of newly registered nursing graduates to perform a variety of clinical skills.


BACKGROUND
Evidence from the literature suggests that undergraduate nursing programmes do not adequately prepare nursing students to be practice-ready on completion of their nursing courses.


METHODS
A descriptive quantitative design was used.


METHODS
Participants were recruited through the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, Victorian branch. A brief explanation of the study and a link to the survey were promoted in their monthly e-newsletter. A total of 245 qualified nurses in the state of Victoria, Australia participated in this study. A survey tool of 51 clinical skills and open-ended questions was used, whereby participants were asked to rate new nursing graduates' abilities using a 5-point Likert scale.


RESULTS
Overall participants rated new nursing graduates' abilities for undertaking clinical skills as good or very good in 35·3% of skills, 33·3% were rated as adequate and 31·4% rated as being performed poorly or very poorly. Of concern, essential clinical skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, working independently and assessment procedures, were found to be poorly executed and affecting new registered nurses graduates' competence.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings from this study can further serve as a reference for nursing education providers to enhance nursing curricula and work collaboratively with healthcare settings in preparing nurses to be competent, safe practitioners on completion of their studies.


CONCLUSIONS
Identifying key areas in which new nursing graduates are not yet competent means that educational providers and educators from healthcare settings can focus on these skills in better preparing our nurses to be work ready.
Faculty of Health, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, Monash University, Churchill, Vic., Australia.|Faculty of Health, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, Federation University, Churchill, Vic., Australia.
Karen
K
Missen
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Australia.
Lisa
L
McKenna
Deakin Population Health SRC, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Burwood, Vic., Australia.
Alison
A
Beauchamp
Faculty of Science & Technology, School of Applied and Biomedical Sciences, Federation University, Churchill, Vic., Australia.
Jo-Ann
JA
Larkins
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004506:Education, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses; D013338:Students, Nursing; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
clinical skills; competence; new nursing graduates; quantitative; questionnaire