Becoming a registered nurse: the nurse extern experience.

Full Abstract

Little is known about the perceptions of nursing students externing in newly developed hospital-based programs that focus on socialization and transition to the registered nurse (RN) role rather than on institutional recruitment and retention goals. This qualitative study explored student nurse externs' expectations, experiences, and benefits of participation in a student-focused externship program. Externs wanted to gain experience with skills and learn what it was like to be an RN. Goals were met or exceeded by becoming comfortable in the externship role, growing in skill performance and confidence, and becoming members of the healthcare team. The experience fostered growth from the novice to advanced beginner level of nursing practice. Externs saw the program participation as a valuable way to gain experience and learn what it was like to be an RN.

Author information

Author/s: Starr, Kimberly (K); Conley, Virginia M (VM);

Affiliation: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article

Journal: Journal of continuing education in nursing (J Contin Educ Nurs), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2006 Mar-Apr; vol 37 (issue 2) : pp 86-92

Dates: Created 2006/08/03; Completed 2006/09/01;

PMID: 16883672, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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