Background
New nurses must undergo clinical placements to effectively transition from clinical practice to on-the-job training and participate in educational programs, such as clinical placements, to achieve accreditation standards. Failing to participate in a clinical placement to reach the desired standards can contribute to losing one’s accreditation. Various regulations guide nursing practice, with one of their primary goals being to ensure that newly licensed nurses possess the necessary skills to care for patients properly.
The policy will play a significant role in ensuring that new nurses have hands-on experience for future use. It will enable them to apply the knowledge and skills gained from the classroom environment. New nurses have to undergo clinical placement to be well-prepared to deal with career challenges in their future (Park & Choi, 2021).This will play a crucial role in ensuring that newly graduated nurses possess the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver high-quality care.
Proper policy implementation will contribute to enhanced patient outcomes while minimizing the number of errors in healthcare. Clinical placement is essential for new nurses, as it aligns with the shifting requirements and concerns within the medical sector. It has placed more emphasis on community-based care and professional collaboration. This has provided students with more opportunities to engage with real-world settings.
Purpose
In most cases, clinical placements tend to be generalized and do not address the specific needs of individual students. Newly graduated nurses can participate in clinical rotations that target specific problems and needs. This role prepares them to address problems in real-world healthcare settings (Ulvund et al., 2022). New nurses can network with various healthcare providers and professionals as they participate in clinical placements. This may lead to future career connections and prospective employment opportunities.
Clinical placements also provide students with the opportunity to develop cultural competence and awareness in various settings. These skills are essential for providing culturally sensitive care and are tailored to meet the diverse needs of patients. The efficiency with which new nurses begin their careers can be improved by ensuring that practical rotations are conducted effectively and efficiently.
Persons Affected
The proposed policy will have varying effects on different groups of people, each of whom will play an active role in ensuring that the intended goals are achieved. It will affect assigned nurses, clinical instructors, and the organizations that provide clinical placement for new nurses. Collaboration among individuals is necessary to ensure the proposed policy achieves its desired goals and outcomes. This will help to ensure that all placement activities are adequately addressed and any concerns held by new nurses are eliminated.
Policy Statement
The policy requires new nurses to participate in clinical placements to ensure they have the necessary experience for nursing practice. Regulation is primarily directed toward nursing students and the teachers who instruct them. The policy applies to nursing students who have completed their education but have not yet been certified.
One of the most essential prerequisites for complying with the proposed rule is prior experience with nursing instruction. The instructor is responsible for conveying to students the significance of completing a clinical rotation. They also have a responsibility to direct and support them through the process.
Effective participation in clinical placement is necessary for students to practice what they have learned in the classroom environment. A nursing student also has a duty to seek opportunities to learn while advocating for the increased application of more skills. The student participation plan that is being suggested does not include any exceptions or specific requirements of any kind.
Definition
One of the unique phrases used within the project is clinical placement. Clinical placement refers to the period during which students studying healthcare work in clinical settings to practice what they have learned (NSW Health, 2019). Thanks to this opportunity, students can apply their theoretical knowledge in practice while also refining their clinical skills. Accreditation is another one-of-a-kind word mentioned in the policy. This refers to the process by which an individual is evaluated to determine whether or not they meet the desired standards.
Responsibilities
The assigned nurse is one of the people who will be affected by the implementation of clinical placement. Assigned nurses are responsible for ensuring that new nurses practice what they have learned in the school environment (Boe & Debesay, 2021). The nurse will then proceed to the next step of the process: gathering feedback based on whether a student has attained the desired skills.
The students can then receive the feedback and use it to pinpoint areas where they can improve. This is necessary to increase their likelihood of success. The assigned nurse can also constantly interact with the clinical instructor to provide feedback about placement progress.
Implementing the policy on nurses transitioning from clinical training to on-the-job experience will also affect the clinical supervisor. They are responsible for incorporating targeted teaching and learning opportunities into each phase of the clinical rotation. This will help eliminate the challenges that students are likely to face when transferring the information they have learned in the classroom to a real-world setting.
An instructor will also be responsible for adapting particular patients and assignments to meet the requirements that are exhibited by the students in their class. This is necessary to ensure that all areas a new nurse seeks to improve in are adequately addressed. Tailoring clinical placements to meet students’ needs ensures they are well equipped for future practice. In addition to this responsibility, a nurse educator is accountable for monitoring their students at all times when they are in a clinical setting.
The proposed policy will also impact the organization that provides training for newly graduated nurses. The organization will be responsible for providing new nurses with various opportunities to apply their recently acquired knowledge in practice. An organization may need to modify its schedules and activities to make space for new nurses.
Procedure
The process of guiding newly licensed nurses through the transition from clinical practice to on-the-job training is intricate and must be carried out in a specific, structured manner. The steps that need to be taken to implement the suggested policy successfully are as follows:
- Proper implementation of the policy will require the establishment of defined criteria for clinical placement. The policy group is responsible for defining the selection criteria that will be used to position nurses based on their levels of education, experience, and availability. Students will be evaluated based on these parameters to determine whether they qualify for clinical placement. This can also include setting the goals and objectives that the policy seeks to achieve.
- Identifying available positions for the new nurses to occupy within healthcare organizations. Because of this, the policy group will need to work with the healthcare organizations that are a part of the organization to inquire about the placement opportunities currently open in the departments in which they work.
- Evaluating new nurses to identify suitable positions can be accomplished by interviewing the candidates, assessing their clinical skills, and reviewing their credentials. Evaluating the newly hired nurses is essential to ensuring that they are assigned to jobs that will contribute to expanding their expertise and knowledge.
- Assigning a clinical instructor and a nurse to each new nurse to undergo clinical placement. The instructor and nurse will collaborate to enhance learning opportunities and provide support to nurses during their placement. They will also provide feedback regarding the performance of students within the environment, as well as the effectiveness of the policy.
- Start the clinical placement with the new nurses assigned to different healthcare institutions. Every student will rotate through various roles, assuming responsibilities commensurate with their current level of expertise and experience. It is essential to find opportunities for new nurses that will set them up for success in their future professional endeavors. Each student will go to an indigenous community as part of their clinical placement for 2/12hr shifts. Each clinical group will go together, or select individuals will go on specific days.
- It is essential to monitor the implementation of the strategy to determine whether it is producing the desired results. Because these individuals will be in continuous interaction with the new nurses during their clinical placement, it will be necessary to collect feedback from the instructors and the nurses assigned to them.
- Adjustments will be made based on feedback obtained from assigned instructors and nurses. Improvements should be made to address gaps and challenges identified during the collection of mentor feedback. Making changes to how the policy is implemented will help ensure that the desired goals and objectives are met. It will also help overcome any challenges nurses face during clinical placement.
References
Bøe, S. V., & Debesay, J. (2021). The learning environment of student nurses during clinical placement: a qualitative case study of a student-dense ward. SAGE Open Nursing, 7, 23779608211052357. Web.
NSW Health. (2019). Guidelines for Clinical Placements in NSW Health. Nsw.gov.au, Web.
Park, S. H., & Choi, M. Y. (2021). Development and Validation of the Nursing Students’ Rights Awareness Scale in Clinical Practice: A Scale Development Study. In Healthcare (Vol. 9, No. 10, p. 1323). Web.
Ulvund, I., Dadi, G. B., & Sundal, H. (2022). Nurses benefit from international clinical placement as nurse students: A qualitative study. Nurse Education Today, 105663. Web.