Kristin Msn Auffermann

Graduate nursing students are both nurses and adult learners. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many found themselves working on the frontlines while maintaining their studies and confronting challenges in their professional, educational, and personal lives. Changes in work environments, including redeployments, increased hours, and furloughs, challenged their work–study balance. The rapid pivot to virtual instruction allowed graduate nursing students to continue their coursework, but asynchronous delivery of course content increased their isolation and stress. Academic institutions supported graduate nursing students through innovations such as regular town hall meetings and flexible attendance policies, while the widespread closure of clinical learning sites became one of their biggest challenges. A minimum of 500 hours of supervised direct patient care is required to prepare a student to practice as a nurse practitioner, but there is no formal, financed clinical placement system for nurse practitioner students—leaving this clinical learning requirement particularly vulnerable to disruption during the pandemic. Some of the clinical learning alternatives employed included occupational health work, tele-precepting, and simulation. Since telehealth will be a part of the future of health care delivery, tele-precepting practices should be further developed, but simulation was underused and not an acceptable replacement for supervised direct patient care. A postpandemic future needs to limit gaps in the development of safe, competent health care providers by viewing graduate nursing students as essential workers and ensuring their access to the robust didactic and clinical learning opportunities that will best position them as leaders in health care.

Background: With the continued increase in new nurse practitioners expected over the next 5 years and beyond, more individuals will experience nurse practitioner role transition. It is beneficial to nurse practitioners, patients, and the health care industry to understand factors relating to job satisfaction during role transition. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to contribute to the understanding of the transition period of new nurse practitioners by exploring demographics and job satisfaction during the first 6 months to 2 years of practice. Methods: This nonexperimental quantitative study employed convenience sampling with survey methodology. Twenty-one Facebook groups/pages were posted on once a week for 6 weeks. Demographic information was collected, and personal experiences were measured with the Misener Nurse Practitioner Job Satisfaction Scale. Results: Practice setting, formal orientation programs, and intent to leave current position were related to overall nurse practitioner job satisfaction during the transition period (p < .05). Satisfaction with time and benefits varied among demographic groups (p < .05). Implications for practice: Novice nurse practitioners are mostly satisfied in their new role. However, turnover intention in this population is high and orientation programs are lacking, warranting further study.