Transforming McLeod Hall - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

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whom she could go for support and guidance. And because her colleagues were also very busy, she didn’t always get the help she needed as a new grad. She often felt like she was falling behind, and was sometimes uncomfortable doing things on her own, with no one available to ask for help. Making the Transition According to Chenoweth, it can take up to a year before a new graduate nurse feels competent and capable. In addition to learning their way around an unfamiliar physical environment and getting to know their colleagues, new grads must also master the skills of the profession. They must become adept at physical assessment, figure out how to manage their time efficiently, learn to delegate tasks to others in order to maintain adequate patient care, and develop ways to effectively communicate with all the different members of the health care team. “There’s almost a translation process,” Chenoweth says. “By the time [students] graduate, they’re beginning to think like nurses, but there’s a huge transition that happens in that first year of practice where they have all this book knowledge, but it’s not second nature yet. They have to translate that book knowledge into practice knowledge, and it’s not at all uncommon for new grads to have difficulty feeling successful.” Tim Cunningham (MSN ’09) agrees. “You can learn all the numbers and all the theory, but until you’re using all that information with a living human being, it’s hard to put all those pieces together,” he says. Cunningham came to UVA School of Nursing after nearly ten years of life experience that provided him an invaluable sense of perspective during his first year working in the Emergency Department at the UVA Medical Center. He participated in the School’s Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) program, a direct-entry MSN program that prepares individuals with degrees in other disciplines to become registered nurses. “I don’t know how new nurses go straight from undergrad into nursing,” Cunningham says. “I’m so glad I’ve had almost a decade of life outside of school, where I’ve been able to interact with people, to learn how they communicate and how to work with people who are suffering without the pressure of needing to save their lives.” Investing in New Nurses After five months of struggling, Starkey decided to leave her first job for another position on an acute care pediatrics unit at Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems in Richmond. According to Chenoweth, changing jobs in the first year is common among newly graduated nurses. “When you look at the literature,” she says, “within that first year of practice, [the studies] say there is anywhere from 35 percent to 50 percent turnover, because it can be such a “It’s important to find something outside the health care profession that you can do to distract yourself: swimming, sewing, running, church … things that remind you that you are more than a new nurse, that you are a person.”—Alicia Dean Alicia Dean “Don’t feel pressured to take the first thing that’s offered to you just because it’s a job. It has to be the right fit. If you have any inkling about what you want to do, that’s what you have to go for.”—Lauren Starkey “Take it one day at a time. It’s a bit overwhelming at first, and you can feel out of your element. But you are prepared for it. Always believe in yourself.”—Anne Marie Chartrand “When you get away from work, really get away and recognize there is a forest Anne Marie Chartrand beyond these trees.”—Tim Cunningham • 12 Virginia Legacy Fall 2010
Ten years of life experience before nursing school helped prepare Tim Cunningham for his job in in UVA’s Emergency Department. ALUMNI LEND SUPPORT Frances White Vasaly (BSN ’69) and Linda Smith Halpin (BSN ’75) take their role as UVA alumnae very seriously. Both work as clinical specialists at Inova Fairfax Hospital, and they regularly reach out to the UVA School of Nursing graduates working in northern Virginia to lend a supporting hand. “I want new grads to have such a positive experience that they will stay in nursing,” says Vasaly, who serves on the Nursing Alumni Council. “This is hard work. It’s physically and emotionally challenging. I haven’t forgotten that.” Vasaly, Halpin, and a network of other School of Nursing alumni provide informal mentoring and networking opportunities for fellow UVA grads. Through individual meetings over coffee or at the “’Hoos Coming to Dinner” alumni gatherings they host at Inova, they offer career advice, answer questions, lend a sympathetic ear when needed, and help new nurses adapt to their professional role as well as the challenges of living in a big city. “Nurses are not particularly known for supporting each other,” Vasaly says. “One of the things we feel very strongly about as UVA alumni is that we can and should reach out and support new grads. The rewards are enormous.” traumatic experience. Most just change jobs within nursing, but there is that group that chooses not to continue in nursing at all.” Helping new nurses succeed in their profession, therefore, has become a primary focus for health care institutions. This professional support is among the most important factors that make a difference for the novice. “What we see,” says Chenoweth, “is that in institutions where the orientation process—that precepted, one-on-one experience—is extended, the [new grad] has a better experience, has a better sense of transitioning into those professional responsibilities. It’s at those institutions where orientation may be three to six weeks—rather than three to six months—that there is pretty heavy turnover.” Caring for the Caregivers The extended new graduate orientation at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, made the difference for Alicia Dean (BSN ’09) when she started her first nursing job. She knew from the start that the stress would be high on a pediatric progressive care unit. “We have a lot of chronic kids who stay a long time,” Dean explains, “kids on ventilators with tracheotomies, kids with cystic Alumni gatherings, such as this ‘Hoos Coming to Dinner event, can provide friendship and support for new nurses. Pictured are (l to r) Kristen Smith, Anne Marie Neatrour Chartrand, Fran White Vasaly, Cindy Phillips Rubino, and Michelle Vassallo. (The 1975 UVA nursing uniform was donated by Linda Smith Halpin.) www.nursing.virginia.edu Virginia Legacy 13 •
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Page 17 and 18: A Generous Spirit, A Lasting Legacy
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