Budding nurses readiness for clinical practice: the future is now

Background: Freshly registered nurses’ experience of conversion from student to skilled professionals calls for making significant adjustments to shifting personal and professional roles at the beginning of their career as a nurse. Nursing education is aimed to help students to become beginning practitioners in the field of nursing. This study was taken up to explore the perception of the outgoing nursing students about their readiness to work in the clinical settings after graduation. On completion of graduation, these budding practitioners are anticipated to adjust in the clinical settings rapidly and be proficient of providing innocuous care for patients with multifaceted care needs. It is expected from graduate nurses to be well equipped for clinical practice, but reality may be different and there could be numerous barriers associated with it.Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. A total of 176 outgoing graduate nursing students were selected using total enumerative sampling from different colleges of state of Uttarakhand and were asked to complete a demographic data sheet and self- reported readiness to clinical practice questionnaire.Results: Results have shown that more than half of the outgoing graduate nursing students were not ready for clinical practice. Most of them recognized sleep disturbance, low salary, lack of time and documenting error as barrier for their readiness to clinical practice.Conclusions: The findings of the study show that 63.3% of outgoing graduate nursing students were not ready to work in clinical area which is a matter of concern with the rising healthcare needs and increasing demands of the consumers of health. The results call for a change in the working condition for the nursing staff and a raise in wages worth making them to opt for clinical practice

Perception, perceived scope, and potential barriers towards developing nurse practitioners cadre among health care providers and beneficiaries: A pilot study from Northern India

BACKGROUND: The role of nurse practitioner (NP) emerged in early 1965 when general practitioners began working with nurses. Evidence across the world highlights the benefits achieved by the NP role. The Indian Nursing Council (INC) implemented a country-wide NP in critical care (NPCC) program with the approval of the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) in 2017. The NP role is in its infancy in India. Hence, there is a need to assess the perception among beneficiaries and healthcare personnel. This study was conducted to assess the perception, perceived scope, and potential barriers for developing the role of NPs in India among beneficiaries and healthcare providers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional pilot study was conducted at AIIMS Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India, among 205 participants (84 beneficiaries, 78 nurses, and 43 physicians) using a proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Likert scales and socio-demographic sheets were used to assess the perception, perceived scope of practice, and potential barriers in developing a NP cadre in India. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analyzing data. RESULTS: The mean age of beneficiaries was 37.98, nurses was 27.58, and physicians was 28.13 years, respectively. 121 (61%) of participants were highly favored, and 77 (38%) were in favor of developing NP cadre in India. They considered it to be necessary, feasible, and acceptable in India. The feasibility and necessity of the perception domain were highly significant (P < 0.001 and P < 0.003, respectively). Nurses (mean ± SD: 35.36 ± 3.55) considered that NPs could have a wide range of practice followed by beneficiaries (mean ± SD: 38.17 ± 3.68) than physicians (mean ± SD: 34.75 ± 5.95). Lack of awareness, the nonexistence of cadre structure, lack of acceptance of the role of physicians, and lack of clear policy were the key potential barriers to develop an NP cadre in India. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, participants had favorable views on employing NPs in India; thus, this role will improve healthcare access for beneficiaries. NPs can carry out a wide range of practices.However, a lack of awareness, no cadre structure, and a lack of a clear policy may hinder the development of the NP cadre in India