Graduate Nurses

Graduate Nurses
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Introduction
Advancements made in life are usually scary, as there are many complexities that make progress challenging. People like being comfortable and maintaining the status quo because change and progress comes with uncertainties and the fear of the unknown (Cheeks & Dunn, 2010). Young nursing graduates expecting to graduate from university to join the clinical medicine workforce depict the aspect of progress. However, past studies have shown that a profession in clinical medicine can be quite stressful as an individual’s success can be dictated by many factors. An individual’s transition into the clinical disciplines is vital in ensuring success. However, the successful transition is dependent on various influences related to their work-environment. These factors include interpersonal communication, work-relationships, and ability to work in a team.
Many fresh graduates may feel anxiety when embarking on their careers, as many factors that govern the success in the work place are not taught in schools. People have to learn them through experience in order to ensure success. This paper will highlight on the three main areas needed to ensure a successful transition into the work place and a successful career in nursing (Chakraborti, et al., 2008). These factors are teamwork, delegation, and advocacy.
Teamwork
Critical reflection justifying selection
Working together has been one of the keys to success. Working as a team ensures the best out of the team players is obtained (Chang & Daly, 2011). However, a group of people working together does not necessarily make a team because of the individuality of every team player. Group dynamics are different and work differently for every group setting. Good social and personal relationships and bonds between team players will help in the creation of a good functional team. These traits will help a person work well with others as a team and get through obstacles. Though these traits may not come in handy at the moment, graduate nurses should develop them as they will go a long way in their personal careers accepting the personal differences in the strengths and weaknesses of fellow nurses will help in working as a team.
A nurse’s ability to work in harmony with fellow nurses will help build rapport and trust that will help in both personal and professional advancements.in. Understanding the group dynamics of a team, one will be able to work efficiently staying on top of situations as they arise and conflict resolution in the work place (Cummings, et al, 2008).
Argument and Critical Discussion
The strenuous and demanding work of nursing is some of the reasons why nurses cannot take care of a patient for long. To counter these factors, nurses specialize and work in rotating shifts. This involves working in teams in taking care if patients. A patient cannot be attended by a single nurse. Therefore, working in harmony ensures that caregiving to patients is done smoothly and effectively (Dunn et al, 2007). Following instructions and communicating with other team members are vital for a graduate nurse in teamwork to ensure quality healthcare provision to patients. Working as a team requires coordination among the team to ensure that all the elements come together for the benefit of the team. Therefore, teamwork is essential in ensuring the successful transition of graduate nurses in clinical healthcare.
Teamwork is a joint action and effort by a group of people. Teamwork has been cited as one of the main factors in clinical and nursing environment that improves patient safety, and quality care, as well as higher patient satisfaction during treatment. In the work place, good teamwork will produce the best while inspiring one another to reach great heights. However, an imbalanced team will create quite the opposite reaction. People who are not team players may propagate conflicts every time there is a small disagreement, and no clear methods of conflict resolution (Larson & LaFasto, 1989). This has a negative impact on the performance of the team and may result in the loss of life in the medical profession (Kelly & Marthaler, 2010). Given the sensitive nature of the work of nurses, perfect team coordination is required to ensure proper caregiving and the lives of patients are not endangered.
Teamwork does not come as easy as people may think. This is mainly because there are many different personalities in a team. Dealing with individualism and the different character traits of team members is essential in ensuring the team remains functional. However, a team may consist of individualistic, selfish individuals who are uncooperative. To mitigate possible disaster, team harmony must take priority. This will ensure the successful transition of graduate nurses in the work place.
Delegation
Critical reflection justifying selection
Given the tedious and strenuous workload of nurses, delegation of duties is an essential management concept that may help one in his daily duties. A graduate nurse may have a lot on his place as he tries to assimilate to the work environment. Given the hectic workload, it is vital to ensure that one is not fatigued to perform his duties. Delegation of work is essential to spread the workload and work efficiently. However, proper delegation is necessary as the work is still under your charge, as any problems will be directed to the one responsible. Therefore, it is essential to come up with proper delegation strategies, as it will help in the daily work performance. Good work will reflect positively as one will be able to delegate and work properly with fellow nurses. Therefore, in graduate transition in the work place, nurses should be able to assess their work to ensure one does not take too much work to be overburdened, and to delegate duties properly.
Argument and Critical Discussion
Delegation entails entrusting responsibility to someone else. In delegation, trust is the key element (Cox, 2006). Finding the proper team harmony in nursing is difficult. Given the nature of the work, finding the proper person to entrust with certain duties is not easy. For graduate nurses, management structures in healthcare institutions may prove to be challenging in the management of healthcare. Trust is built over time and finding a team that works in harmony is hard. When one fails in their duties, patient’s lives are at risk due to poor care, and place the work of fellow nurses at risk.
There are two parts of delegation. Being the delegator and being the delegated. Graduate nurses on transition usually find themselves at the receiving end, as they are delegated duties to perform by more experienced nurses. This may be a tedious affair as the duties may be overwhelming (Cox, 2006). However, in order for one to gain experience, it is vital for one to be able to take and follow instructions. However, given the volatile situation that caregiving may provide, graduate nurses may face situations that require their immediate action. This may result in the nurse having to make a life altering decision that directly affects the condition of a patient. In such situations, a nurse may delegate the task of the care treatment of the patient to a more qualified individual for the good of the patient. This can result in friction among nurses, as more experienced nurses may be vexed to be assigned such responsibilities.
In addressing the various delegation hitches that may arise, studies have shown that are delegation strategies that can be employed (Cox, 2006). A four-tier delegation process is one of the most common in healthcare institutions. The delegation consists of planning and assessing, communication that is two-way, supervision and surveillance, and the standard compliance of all delegation procedures to healthcare practices and policies. However, it is essential to note that delegation should only be used by the proper personnel, under the right conditions under proper instructions and directions. There must be proper communication on the patient condition and processes to be followed to avoid any mix-ups.
In conclusion, proper delegation is pivotal in ensuring the wellbeing of patients. Successful delegation comprises of certain key elements such as trust, the proper understanding of professional nursing practice, the delegate having confidence in himself and his work among other factors. Trust has been identified by researchers as the most vital aspect of delegation. In assigning tasks, graduate nurses must look for individuals they can trust with the dutie...