Monday, August 25, 2014

Time for New Grads to speak up!

Important study being undertaken to gauge preparedness, confidence levels of newly registered RNs

A research team of Canadian nurse educators is conducting a study to find out how well prepared and confident newly registered nurses are for the realities of the workplace.


The Nursing Competence Self-Efficacy Scale (NCSES) survey is intended for nurses within six months of registration as an RN.

Please click on the following link to take the survey:
https://surveys.dal.ca/opinio/s?s=NCSES

It will take about 10 minutes to complete the survey. The survey will ask the participant to rate her or his self-efficacy (confidence) for nursing practice competency.


The survey is constructed using Opinio, a secure online survey software program. All reported data will be in aggregate form and will not include personal identifying features. This study has approval from the Cape Breton University Research Ethics Board.

ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, is pleased that this study is being undertaken, having been a vocal activist at Ontario’s Joint Provincial Nursing Committee (JPNC) about the lack of preparedness of our newly graduated RNs to work on the front lines.

Too often, new RN graduates are moving away from bedside nursing in hospitals and long-term care and choosing to go into administrative and non-clinical positions. On behalf of ONA’s 14,000 nursing student affiliate-members, we need to understand why and what we need to do to encourage new RN graduates to recognize the critical role of the bedside nurse in our health care system.

Regarding their study, the research team says: “Our health care system needs RNs who have strong practice self-efficacy, who want to stay in the nursing workforce, who are resilient to the stressors associated with front-line nursing and who are confident and productive as members and leaders of interdisciplinary health care teams. Strong research evidence supports the value of self-efficacy building in general education and further investigation is warranted.”

ONA strongly supports this view and believes this vital research will help us better understand the perspective and needs of newly graduated RNs entering the workforce for the first time or who are fairly new to the system, particularly how confident they feel in their practice.


Please see the flyer for more information and encourage all your new grads to complete this survey.

As a thank-you for volunteering to complete the survey, participants will be eligible to receive a $300 gift certificate to Future Shop or Winners.
For any questions related to the research survey, please contact Evelyn Kennedy and Debbie Brennick.