Challenges Faced by New Registered Nurses in Australia: An Overview

This essay examines the significant challenges encountered by newly graduated registered nurses in Australia as they transition from academic training to professional practice. It delves into the difficulties these nurses face, including the stress of full accountability, adapting to shift-based systems, teamwork, and the acquisition of new skills. The essay highlights the gap between university education and practical experience, specifically in the Australian healthcare setting, and explores issues such as lack of confidence, communication barriers, and unrealistic expectations from hospital staff and patients. The discussion covers the shortage of nurses in Australia and the need for improved training programs to address these challenges. It also addresses assimilation anxiety, time management issues, and the legal and ethical responsibilities that contribute to stress. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of innovative strategies in training methods to support new nurses and improve the retention rate in the Australian healthcare system.

Running head: TRANSITION TO NURSING
TRANSITION TO NURSING
STUDENT NAME:
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Table of Contents
Theme: Challenges faced by the newly graduated registered nurse in Australia as they are
imposed with the full accountability as a registered nurse despite starting the clinical practice
as a beginner...............................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
Reference list..............................................................................................................................8

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Theme: Challenges faced by the newly graduated registered nurse in
Australia as they are imposed with the full accountability as a registered
nurse despite starting the clinical practice as a beginner
Introduction
The transition of newly graduate nurses to the mainstream practice has always been a
conflicting issue addressed by the academicians and researchers. Over the time, the interest
surrounding this issue is continuously increasing and exposing several areas of conflict within
the subject. The transition of newly graduate nurses in the practical framework as Registered
Nurse is not an easy way. In most of the cases, the graduates find it extremely stressful to
consolidate their learning and understanding of this issue to their practical practice and gain
the deserved recognition in their working field at the initial stage of their work. The newly
graduates are required to fit in the working environment instantly and start working under the
shift-based system. Moreover, the instant adjustments related to teamwork, new skills and
knowledge acquisition and catering to serious responsibilities generate a significant amount
of stress in the new graduates.
In the case of Australian health care setting, the situation is almost the same for the newly
registered nurses. The following discussion will take a leap on those challenges faced by the
newly registered nurses in Australia as they are expected to be fully equipped to handle every
responsibility that comes their way as soon as their start their career in the professional field.
The discussion will further present a qualitative study on the gaps that are quite visible
between the university lectures regarding health care and that of the practical experiences
encountered by Australian nursing practitioners in the health care setting.
Discussion
There are various views contributed by the academicians in this context that has raised
conflicts. On the other hand, the supportive arguments and positive feedbacks suggest that
there are plenty of opportunities regarding this that suggest there are several influential
factors that motivate these fresh graduates to combat the challenges and proceed with sheer
confidence. In this context, it is quite evident that there are plenty of opportunities for the
graduates using which the nurses can successively improve the initial experience and derive
encouragement for staying in the health care sector, contributing their best efforts (Dolphin,
2013). The newly graduates require immense support from the registered nurse appointed in

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the health care settings. It felicitates the graduates with a significant amount of support that
enhances their employment and encourages them to stay within the complex framework
despite the difficulties.
Over the time, it has been a proven theory that the more the new graduates in Australia is
exposed to the clinical experiences, the more their development as a professional nurse will
be assured. In various health care settings around Australia, the newly graduated registered
nurses are provided with proper training and support programmes as they start their
professional work (Parker et al. 2014). However, arguments have suggested that students
who go through different training programmes in Australia do not get the privilege of
understanding the responsibilities of a registered nurse (Phillips, Esterman & Kenny, 2015).
Although, the supportive graduate programmes aim to equip the graduates with enough
knowledge to proceed with, but despite the efforts, graduates around the rural sectors of
Australia still faces the same challenge while they start working as a professional registered
nurse.
The basic challenge the newly graduates face after completion of their nursing degree
programme is sure regarding the selection of their working venue. There is a common
perception regarding this idea that the venue the graduates select for carrying out their work
as a professional nurse can leave a severe impact on their upcoming career. In Australia, the
empirical evidence and surveys have established the idea that the graduates who start
working as a registered nurse in the private sectors have both positive and negative
experiences (Benner et al. 2009). However, it has become quite evident from the researches
and surveys that the nurses working in the public health care sector have plenty of negative
experiences.
The current situation is Australian healthcare is essential in this context, as the number of
Australian nurses is declining in a rapid force. Whereas the increase of the aged population is
continuously elevating in Australia, the shortage in the number of nurses is becoming a grave
issue (Scully, 2011). The study of Health Workforce Australia has suggested that by the year
2025, the shortage in the number of nurses will reach up to 110,000. On the other hand, in
Queensland, the shortage rate is also quite high and by 2020, the expansion in the health care
setting will create almost 14,000 vacant positions (Salt, Cummings & Profetto-McGrath,
2008). Evidently, the problem is there regarding the employee retention in the health care

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sector of Australia that is not addressed properly. Considering this significant statistical
factors, the Australian healthcare authority is trying its best to enrol the nurses in several
training courses. The gap is yet to be filled, as there are several obligations the new registered
nurses face during clinical practices that are not being addressed in their training
programmes. However, various studies regarding this issue have tried to resolve the
problems, but those have barely met the objectives. As a result, the transition for the graduate
nurses in Australia is still quite problematic and poses a valid challenge for the health care
industry (Cleary et al. 2011).
In the Australian health care settings, the newly graduated registered nurses often declare
negative comment upon their career choice claiming that their expectations to perform
exceptionally well in the professional field have diminished over the time (Pellico, Brewer &
Kovner, 2009). At the initial stage, the major problem for new registered nurse occurs
because of their continuous rotation to the different wards within the healthcare setting. The
challenges are quite visible in the primary level of joining as a registered nurse that is also
considered as the developmental phase. ‘Reality shocks’ is a very common term that is used
for this stage of learning of the nurses. In their first encounter of the clinical experiences, the
newly graduate registered nurses encounter several incidents that shock them, as they do not
experience those in their training period (Evans, Boxer & Sanber, 2008).
Lack of confidence and fear are the two transitional challenges that grab the nurses because
of encountering reality shocks within the health care setting. However, arguments have
revealed that the fear is somehow generated from the excitement of entering a completely
new area of professional practice and if not, fear can be abolished over the time through the
extended support from the people within the healthcare setting (Hartigan et al. 2010). Lack of
proper communication within the setting is another barrier faced by new graduates as they
find it difficult to communicate with the physicians as well as the team members. Various
experiences of novice registered nurses confirm that while communicating with the
physicians over the telephone regarding a critical health condition of a patient, they
experienced negative approaches from the senior physicians (Wu et al. 2012). Such rejection
from the physicians often leads the newly graduated registered nurse to become clueless. In
order to diminish this issue, health care authorities need to initiate in-depth interpersonal
communication-based training programmes to address such conflicts on a serious note.

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A major challenge faced by the newly emerged professionals of the health care setting is the
sense of being unprepared to face the work challenges. The suppressing workload and
immense responsibilities of the registered nurse make them feel out of place in the health care
setting as they start as the beginners. Despite being equipped with sufficient knowledge of the
activities of the healthcare setting, the newly graduated registered nurse feel to be less
prepared for carrying out their duties effectively (Jacob, McKenna & D’Amore, 2014). As a
result, they fail to put their best efforts in their work and left with utter disappointment about
their career choice at the early stage. Apparently, the lack of proper training is considered as
the prime reason in this case, but arguments have suggested that various graduate nurses also
lack efforts to address the issues and resolve them as because of their anxiety.
The unrealistic expectations of the hospital staffs along with the patients often lead them to
face severe challenges within the healthcare setting. Moreover, the already experienced
nurses also try to impose dominance over the newly graduated registered nurses and compel
them to fulfil the expectations (Dolphin, 2013). Such a condition regarding over expectation
generates a significant amount of guilt and inadequacy among the graduates as they fail to
cater to the expectation levels. Arguably, in the positive work environments, the graduates
successfully catered to the expectation levels because of the more realistic approach to their
workload allocation process (Parker et al. 2014). As a result, the nurses felt confident and
encouraged them to work more independently.
Assimilation anxiety, more explicitly, the need of adjusting with the team in the fastest
possible way is another challenge faced by the new graduates. Every ward within the health
care settings of Australia possesses a different culture and it becomes difficult to fit in within
the complexities (Phillips, Esterman & Kenny, 2015). Moreover, as the newly enrolled
registered nurses encounter frequent shifting and rotations within the wards, it becomes
immensely difficult for them to make the adjustments fast. The lack of proper time
management skills along with personal accountability also lead them to feel stressed out as
they start their role as a beginner. Moreover, the newly appointed registered nurses evolve a
nature of comparing themselves with the existing experienced nurses of the healthcare
settings (Benner et al. 2009). Such a practice makes them feel more under confident and
inadequate.

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Proper time management at the initial stage becomes a major issue for the newly enrolled
registered nurses in Australian healthcare settings, as they need to perform faster and combat
the time. Lack of proper time management skills in the primary stage creates an immense
amount of stress among the nurses and leaves them with unfinished works (Jacob, McKenna
& D’Amore, 2014). Most of them even try to outperform beyond their shifting time with the
fear of losing the competition with the other newly enrolled registered nurses. The challenge
of the role that is the legal and ethical responsibility of handling others lives also generate a
certain amount of stress among the new graduates that they never felt during their training
period. As per the experiences shared by various nurses, it became quite evident that they
remain afraid of certain situations that their care initiatives may leave a negative impact on
the patients and their condition may get worse (Wu et al. 2012).
Along with these challenges, the challenge of consolidating all the learning, understanding
and knowledge in performing the works, handling the pressure of negative feedbacks and
unsupportive work environment are the other major barriers that every newly graduated
registered nurse face in current time. Experiences regarding the horizontal violence or bad
conduct from the experienced staffs, professional isolation and exchange of contradictory
information within the workplace make it difficult for the nurses to adjust in the complex
environment at the initial stages. Moreover, adapting with all the technical skills and making
the clients happy and satisfied by delivering high quality of care often appear to be
challenging for the newly enrolled registered nurses.
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it is quite apparent that Australia requires filling the gap and
shortage of nursing by improvising innovative strategies in the training methods. It has been
quite evident from the discussion that the challenges, demands and expectations are posing a
barrier for the newly graduated registered nurses to achieve the job satisfaction. The growing
dissatisfaction and fear of failure is directly influencing the professional commitment of the
nurses leading them to alter their profession. Considering these facts, it can be stated that
health care organisations should not restrict themselves in providing training to the newly
registered nurses, but also put focus on amending the environment of the health care setting
so that it can fulfil the requirements of the new generation of registered nurses adequately.

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Reference list
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Evans, J., Boxer, E., & Sanber, S. (2008). The strengths and weaknesses of transitional
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Hartigan, I., Murphy, S., Flynn, A. V., & Walshe, N. (2010). Acute nursing episodes which
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Salt, J., Cummings, G. G., & Profetto-McGrath, J. (2008). Increasing retention of new
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