The Nurses Foundation of Wisconsin is proud to introduce the winner of the 2016 Research Grant, Laurie Kunkel-Jordan. Below is Laurie’s Abstract, which explores newly graduated nurses and preceptorship.
Are you a WNA member who has a research project that needs funding? The 2017 application is now available at wisconsinnurse.wpengine.com/nfw-grant-application. Due on May 1!
Abstract
Problem: Increasingly complex healthcare systems, high level patient acuity, and the persistence of incivility in nurse work environments put newly graduated nurses (NGNs) at risk for failure to thrive in clinical practice. Without effective support, NGNs have intent to leave the job and the profession. Given that nurse demand is fast outpacing nurse supply, the retention of competent NGNs in the workplace is paramount. It is widely accepted that high quality preceptorship is pivotal to NGNs’ successful transition to the professional nurse role. Yet, the critical elements of preceptorship have not been adequately explicated in the extant literature. Within preceptorship, the preceptor (PR) and NGN interact as a dyad, but no studies have quantified the PR-NGN dyadic relationship and examined its influence on the outcomes of preceptorship. Therefore, this study addresses the following research question, “Are the effects of the preceptorship experience on NGN competence and PR and NGN work engagement, a function of the PR-NGN relationship?”
Method: A quantitative, reciprocal, standard dyadic design will be used. Eighty-two distinct PR-NGN dyads will be recruited from eleven urban and community hospitals located in the midwestern United States. The Preceptor Evaluation Tool, Specific Competency Tool, and Utrecht Work Engagement Survey will be used to measure study outcomes. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model(APIM) provides a conceptual and statistical basis for examining dyadic phenomena. Accordingly, the APIM will be used to determine the presence of actor, partner, within, and between dyads effects of preceptorship on NGN competence and work engagement of the PR and NGN.
