Abstract
BackgroundThe nature of a new health professional’s transition from student to health professional is a significant determinant of the ease or difficulty of the journey to professional competence. The integrative review will explore the extent of literature on the factors that impact the transition of new health professionals into practice, identify possible gaps and synthesise findings which will inform further research. The aim was to identify research conducted in the last two decades on the barriers, facilitators and coping strategies employed by new health professionals during their transition into practice.MethodsWhittemore and Knafl’s methodological framework for conducting integrative reviews was used to guide this review. Sources between 1999 and 2019 were gathered using EBSCOhost (including CINAHL, Medline, Academic Search Premier, Health Science: Nursing and Academic Edition), PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane and Web of Science, as well as hand searching and follow-up of bibliographies followed. The Covidence platform was used to manage the project. All studies were screened against a predetermined selection criteria. Relevant data was extracted from included sources and analysed using thematic analysis approach.ResultsOf the 562 studies identified, relevant data was extracted from 24 studies that met the inclusion criteria, and analysed to form this review. Thematic analysis approach was used to categorise the findings into theme areas. Four overarching themes emerged namely: systems and structures, personal capacities, professional competence and mediating processes. Each theme revealed the barriers, facilitators and coping strategies of transition into practice among new health graduates.ConclusionThe transition into practice for new health practitioners has been described as complex and a period of great stress. Increasing clinical and practical experiences during education are required to support new health professionals in the process of closing the gap between learning and practice. Continued professional development activities should be readily available and attendance of these encouraged.
Highlights
The nature of a new health professional’s transition from student to health professional is a significant determinant of the ease or difficulty of the journey to professional competence
Due to the gap between academic and practice contexts, evidence suggests that new health professionals might be overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy [5], unpreparedness [6] and doubtfulness related to their competence [4, 7]
The reality of practice is experienced as a shock by new health practitioners [6, 7]; feelings that might negatively affect- the personal and professional confidence of new health professionals [8]
Summary
The nature of a new health professional’s transition from student to health professional is a significant determinant of the ease or difficulty of the journey to professional competence. Due to the gap between academic and practice contexts, evidence suggests that new health professionals might be overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy [5], unpreparedness [6] and doubtfulness related to their competence [4, 7]. The nature of a new health professional’s transition from student to health professional has been shown to be a significant determinant of the ease or difficulty of his/her journey to professional competence [2, 12]. Consistent emphasis is placed on supervision to help new health professionals relate the knowledge acquired in the classroom to practice [4, 12,13,14,15]. Evidence suggests that continued professional development avenues positively impact on new health professionals’ self-confidence and professional identity [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
