Publications by authors named "Larissa Africa"

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the health care work environment and exacerbated workplace demands and stress. New graduate nurses (NGNs) transitioning into their first registered nurse role were not exempt. Little is known about the emotional well-being of NGNs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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A structured transition to practice (TTP) program is beneficial to the professional success and retention of new graduate nurses (NGNs). The COVID-19 pandemic impacted clinical preparation and the TTP experience of NGNs. Data from the Versant National Database between 2018 and 2021 were analyzed to determine the current state of NGN well-being and clinical development.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nurses transitioning to practice in a variety of ways over the past 2 years. Analysis from the Versant Database comparing new graduate nurses (NGNs) from 2018-2021 revealed a widened practice gap for NGNs in these specialty areas of practice: critical care, perinatal, and emergency. Additionally, NGNs achieved 100% competency validation sooner in 2020-2021.

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As the new graduate nurse transitions from academia to practice, they commit to lifelong learning to enhance their professional and personal growth. This article provides a comparison between bachelor of science in nursing and associate degree nursing nurses who participated in a multisite national nurse residency program between 2015 and 2019 in areas of professional development, leadership, and academic progression during their initial 3 years of practice. It also provides nursing professional development practitioners with strategies from two national experts to support new graduate nurses during early practice.

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The Future of Nursing Report from 2010 offered key recommendations for the practice of nursing, including the need for nurse residency programs for all new graduate nurses. Although numerous articles can be found about the programs themselves, finding information about the support of nurse leaders for such programs is more challenging. In the spring of 2019, a small group of invited nurse leaders from across the United States met during a "Think Tank.

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has tasked health care organizations at all levels to respond to critical issues such as procuring personal protective equipment, initiating safety policies and procedures, and rethinking staffing needs. This article describes a program that was designed to focus on rapid competency validation for organizations who had to dial up staffing to meet the immediate demands of the health care crisis.

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This article provides a narrative that describes the current state of medical errors and near misses in the general health care setting and for new graduate registered nurses specifically. It then proposes a "wild idea" to create a national database for the reporting of errors that would act as a call to action to change our current reporting system to one of transparency and shared information for the purpose of creating needed education in both academic and practice settings.

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Background And Purpose: Transition to practice programs are an expectation for new graduate RNs and there is a need for quality outcome measures. The concept of self-efficacy was explored, and a tool developed, to identify the RN's belief regarding their capacity to perform select clinical competencies. The purpose of this study was to validate the psychometric properties of the Versant Self-Efficacy tool.

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Preceptor role development, support, and recognition are critical elements of a successful preceptor program. The Married State Preceptorship Model was developed to enhance the transition experience for both preceptor and preceptee. This article provides an overview of the married state approach in precepting to increase participant engagement, thus supporting the RN's transition experience.

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Debriefing is considered a positive approach used to evaluate learning, support communication, and explore emotions following simulation or a clinical experience. This article discusses the use of debriefing as an evolving strategy for new graduate nurses and focuses on the importance of structured clinical debriefing as a component to relieve stress while providing periods of reflection and cohesion.

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Developing competent and confident new graduate nurses who remain with their hospitals is a major challenge. A structured evidence-based RN residency was developed and implemented in hospitals across the United States. Outcomes data were collected from over 6000 new graduate nurses who completed the RN residency over a 10-year period.

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