Uncovering knowing in practice during the graduate year: An exploratory study
Jennifer M Newton
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton VIC
Lisa G McKenna
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University, Clayton VIC
PP: 153 - 162
Abstract
Becoming a graduate nurse is both a complex and stressful transition. Graduates must socialise into the context of nursing practice while developing their own clinical expertise and knowledge as novice registered nurses. This paper describes a study that explored graduate nurses' development of knowing and reflectivity during their graduate programs.
This study used a series of audio-taped focus groups and anecdotes collected from participants during the first eighteen months of being a nurse. Anecdotes were submitted as word files, electronically to the chief researcher and thematically analysed using Carper's (1978) ways of knowing as a framework.
Four ways of knowing were identified through the anecdotes: knowing self, empirical, personal, and ethical. Substantiation of these was further enhanced from focus group data.
Development of practical knowledge as a novice is influenced by the degree of engagement afforded to the graduate nurse and their skills of critical reflectivity.
Acknowledgement
This study was funded by the Monash University Small Grant scheme. The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the graduate co-ordinators of the participating health agencies and for the graduates who shared their journeys.
Keywords
anecdote, graduate nurse, knowledge development, transition, socialisation
References
Austgard K (2006) The aesthetic experience of nursing, Nursing Philosophy 7(1): 11-19.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (2006) National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse, accessed at http://www.anmc.org.au/docs/Competency_standards_RN.pdf.
Averill JB and Clements PT (2007) Patterns of Knowing as a Foundation for Action-Sensitive Pedagogy, Qualitative Health Research 17(3): 386-399.
Carper B (1978) Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing, Advances in Nursing Science 1(1): 13-23.
Carper BA (1992) Philosophical inquiry in nursing: An application, in Kikichi JF and Simons H (eds) Philosophic Inquiry in Nursing, Sage Publications, Newbury Park CA.
Chinn PL and Kramer MK (2004) Integrated knowledge development in nursing, CV Mosby, St Louis MO.
Corbin J (2008) Is caring a lost art in nursing? International Journal of Nursing Studies 45(2): 329-332.
Cox H, Hickson P and Taylor B (1991) Exploring reflection: Knowing and constructing practice, in Gray G and Pratt R (eds) Towards a Discipline of Nursing, Churchill Livingstone, London.
Dewey J (1933) How We Think, Henry Regnery, Chicago IL.
Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience, Perigee Books, New York.
Duchscher J (2001) Out in the real world: Newly graduated nurses in acute-care speak out, Journal of Nursing Administration 31(9): 426-439.
Duff Cloutier J, Duncan C and Bailey P (2007) Locating Carper's Aesthetic Pattern of Knowing within Contemporary Nursing Evidence, Praxis and Theory, International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship 4(1): Article 5.
Ellerton M-L and Gregor F (2003) A study of transition: The new nurse graduate at 3 months, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 34(3): 103-107.
Eraut M (2004) Informal learning in the work- place, Studies in Continuing Education 26(2): 247-273.
Etheridge SA (2007) Learning to think like a nurse: Stories from new nurse graduates, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 38(1): 24-30.
Gerrish K (2000) Still fumbling along? A comparative study of the newly qualified nurse's perception of the transition from student to qualified nurse, Journal of Advanced Nursing 32(2): 473-480.
Graham I and Richardson E (2008) Experiential gaming to facilitate cultural awareness: Its implications for developing emotional caring in nursing, Learning in Health and Social Care 7(1): 37-45.
Griffiths P (2008) The art of losing ...? A response to the question 'is caring a lost art', International Journal of Nursing Studies 45(2): 329-332.
Hamilton H (2005) New graduate identity: Discursive mismatch, Contemporary Nurse 20(1): 67-77.
Heslop L, McIntyre M and Ives G (2001) Undergraduate student nurses' expectations and their self-reported preparedness for the graduate year role, Journal of Advanced Nursing 36(5): 626-634.
Johns C (1995) Framing learning through reflection within Carper's fundamental ways of knowing in nursing, Journal of Advanced Nursing 22(2): 226-234.
Johns C (2004) Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, Blackwell Science, Oxford.
Maben J, Latter S and Clark JM (2006) The theory-practice gap: Impact of professional-bureaucratic work conflict on newly-qualified nurses, Journal of Advanced Nursing 55(4): 465-477.
Mackintosh C (2006) Caring: The socialisation of pre-registration student nurses: A longitudinal qualitative descriptive study, International Journal of Nursing Studies 43(8): 953-962.
McAllister M (2005) Transformative teaching in nursing education: Leading by example, Collegian 12(2): 11-16.
McKenna L and Green C (2004) Experiences and learning during a graduate nurse program: An examination using a focus group approach, Nurse Education in Practice 4(4): 258-263.
Newton JM (1999) 'Ways of knowing: Student nurses' perspectives'. Melbourne, Unpublished EdD, Monash University.
Newton JM (2000) Uncovering knowing in practice amongst a group of undergraduate student nurses, Reflective Practice 1(2): 183-197.
Newton JM and McKenna L (2007) The transitional journey through the graduate year: A focus group study, International Journal of Nursing Studies 44(7): 1231-1237.
Newton JM, Jolly BC, McKenna L and Cant R (2008) Being heard: Enhancing the transition to practice. Australian Teaching and Learning Council Project: Two parallels? Professional and academic cultures in practice, Monash University Educate 08, Seminar paper. Peninsula Campus, Melbourne, 10 October.
Schon DA (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Basics Books, New York.
Schon DA (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Smith A and Jack K (2005) Reflective practice: A meaningful task for students, Nursing Standard 19(26): 33-37.
Thomka L (2001) Graduate nurses' experiences of interaction with professional nursing staff during transition to the professional role, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 32(1): 15-19.
van Manen M (1999) The Language of Pedagogy and Primacy of Student Experience, in Loughran J (ed) Researching Teaching: Methodologies and Practices for Understanding Pedagogy, Falmer Press, London.
Wellard SJ, Woolf R and Gleeson L (2007) Exploring the use of clinical laboratories in undergraduate nursing programs in regional Australia, International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship 4(1), accessed at http://www.bepress.com/ijnes/vol4/iss1/art4 on 28/02/08.
Williams CA, Goode CJ, Kresek C, Bednash and Lynne (2007) Post-baccalaureate nurse residency 1-year outcomes, Journal of Nursing Administration 37(7/8): 357-365.
Winter-Collins A and McDaniel A (2000) Sense of belonging and new graduate job satisfaction, Journal for Nurses in Staff Development 16(3): 103-111.
eContent Home
