Newly Licensed Nurses' Transition to Practice During Pandemic Ater Participating in Nurse Apprentice Program

Problem Statement: Nurse apprentice/externship programs enhance the nursing workforce by preparing new nurses for smooth transitions to practice. While several healthcare organizations responded to pandemic-related stressors in nursing by adopting new nurse apprentice programs, researchers have rarely studied the effects of these programs within pandemic environments. Goal/aim As part of the UHealth Hospitals & Clinics Nursing Department and College of Nursing Academic Practice Partnership, our study compared how newly licensed RNs who participated or did not participate in an apprentice program during the COVID-19 pandemic perceived the transition to practice. Actions Taken: We used a repeated measures design to compare participants with (n = 14) and without (n = 18) apprentice training by administering the Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey (CFGNES) at two, six, and twelve months post-RN employment. The analysis included Cronbach's alpha and comparing CFGNES scores between cohorts using a linear regression model. Summary of Results: The nurse apprentice and standard training cohorts had mean composite CFGNES scores of 76.8 (SD = 7.52) vs. 71.9 (SD = 6.68), p & lt; .01; higher scores suggested positive values for workplace support, stress, communication/leadership, and professional satisfaction. Research outcomes demonstrated the importance of apprenticeships in preparing nurses for COVID-19 workplace environments. Newly licensed nurses who participated in the new apprentice program provided more favorable responses about their transition to practice during the pandemic than those who were not apprentices, implying newly licensed nurses benefit from nurse apprentice experiences.