Critique of the graduate nurse: an international perspective

Differences of opinion exist between nurses ‘in service’ and nurses ‘in education’ in all Westernized democracies with respect to their expectations of new graduate and diplomate Registered Nurses (RNs). Nurses in service complain that graduates and diplomate RNs are inadequately prepared for service provision at time of graduation. They complain, in particular, that graduates and diplomats have insufficient clinical and patient management skills. In contrast, nurses in education claim to prepare ‘beginning’ rather than competent practitioners, who are critically reflective and committed to lifelong learning. They also complain that service colleagues could do more to ease the transition experiences of new RNs. These differing views, the conceptualizations of nurse education and the socioeconomic pressures which underpin them will be explored in this paper. It will be argued that more intersectoral collaboration in terms of both pre-registration and transition programmes could result in the graduates’/diplomates’ expeditious acquisition of clinical and patient management skills.