Development of work readiness in graduate nurses during a Transition to Practice Program: A survey study

Background: Transition to Practice Programs (TPPs) support graduate nurses and midwives during their first year of clinical practice. 'Work readiness' theory proposes specific skills, knowledge, and attributes are needed to successfully transition into the workplace.Aims: To measure development of self-perceived work readiness among graduates undertaking a 12-month TPP.Methods: Repeated measure, cross-sectional survey. Participants were a cohort of 160 graduate nurses and midwives (response rate 56.7%) commencing at a large tertiary hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Work readiness was measured using the Work Readiness Scale-graduate nurses at three timepoints: on commencement (T1), at 6 months (T2), and on completion (T3) of a 12-month TPP. Data were collected between 2018 and 2019.Results: Graduate's Social Intelligence (p = 0.007) and Work Competence (WC) (p < 0.001) subscales had a significant increase from T1 to T3. On completion of the TPP (T3), participants reported significantly higher Personal Work Characteristics (p = 0.017) and WC (p < 0.001) scores compared with baseline (T1). Scores for the organisational acumen (OA) subscale were high across all three timepoints (p = 0.898).Discussion: Significant improvement in three of the four domains of work readiness was observed at timepoints across the TPP. OA was consistently high at all timepoints, which may reflect the comprehensive orientation provided before commencement of the program.Conclusion: Understanding graduate development of work readiness can inform cost-effective TPPs that deliver desired graduate outcomes.& COPY; 2023 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).