Impact of Reduced Clinical Practicum Duration on the Clinical Competence, Communication Confidence, and Retention of New Nurses—A Follow-Up Study
Yueh-E LIN, Hsin-Hsu WU, Chiu-Tzu LIN, Su-Ying YU, Li-Yu CHIENBackground:
Clinical practicums provide essential learning experiences for nursing students and are critical in preparing these students to enter the workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted nursing education worldwide, leading to reduced clinical practicum opportunities for graduates. Research on how shorter/abbreviated clinical practicums affect the competence of newly graduated nurses is lacking.
Purpose:
The purpose of this research was to explore the impacts of reduced clinical practicum duration and content on the clinical competence, communication confidence, and retention rate of newly hired nurses over a 6-month follow-up period.
Methods:
A follow-up design incorporating a retrospective baseline assessment of clinical practicums was used to track outcomes at three time points during June 12, 2023 and June 11, 2024. The sample included 133 newly hired nurses at a medical center in northern Taiwan. Data on clinical practicum experience and clinical nursing competence, communication confidence, and retention rate outcomes at the commencement of employment and after 3 and 6 months were collected.
Results:
The results showed the average percentage of overall clinical practicum completed was 80.78% and that actual durations ranged from 37.5% to 100% of the normal (nonpandemic) duration. Clinical practicum experience was found to significantly influence nursing competence at the start of employment (
Conclusions/Implications for Practice:
Nursing education programs should assess the clinical practicum experience of newly hired nurses and provide support for those with less experience to enhance their nursing competence and communication confidence. Future research should address the challenges associated with unlicensed nursing graduates.