This chapter will explore and discuss issues that may impact on your transition from third-year student nurse to newly qualified nurse (registrant). The issues that will be explored include delegation skills, challenging others, accountability, and prioritizing skills. Case studies will be included that will help you to consider how to respond in some situations that you may encounter. There are no right or wrong answers, but it is important to reflect on the many ways in which decision making occurs in terms of how you might act in certain circumstances. (See Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12 for illustrations from actual practice situations.) Based on the case studies described in the chapter and on the experience of the authors, top tips will be offered to help you to consider a range of options to deal with the identified problems. It is hoped that the chapter will help you to plan key goals to achieve in your final placement, and to identify specific developmental goals to facilitate your transition to registered nurse and during your preceptorship experience. ‘Transition’ can be described as a challenging process that involves moving through a period of uncertainty from a familiar to an unfamiliar role. It is defined by Kralik et al. (2006: 323) as ‘a passage from one life phase, condition, or status to another’, often linked with a life-changing event. However, Meleis et al. (2000) state that change does not necessarily result in a transition and in fact change, according to Bridges (2003), is situational, whereas transition is psychological. Transition is a natural progression throughout life and, even though it can be actively sought and positive, it may be stressful as a result of psycho-social alterations (Brown and Olshansky 1997). Bridges (2004: 4) describes transition as being ‘composed of three stages: an ending, a neutral zone and a new beginning’. The first step is letting go, or ending, a past or former self; the next step, the neutral zone, is identified as a critical point for psychological readjustment; the final step is a new beginning. Bridges (2003) discusses fear of the unknown within the neutral zone, a stage of being in-between the end of the old and the beginning of the new.
Best practices in intercultural health: five case studies in Latin America
