Sociopolitical Knowing: A Secondary Analysis of New Graduate Nurses Transition During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Pre-pandemic, the transition from student nurse to new graduate nurse (NGN) was described as predominantly stressful with a multitude of challenges impacting transition including: chronic underfunding, chronic nursing shortages, and overcrowding of hospitals. The Covid-19 pandemic created new healthcare challenges for nurses, specifically NGN, as they navigated enter into the profession in a time of unprecedented times in both their professional and personal lives. There was an increase in high level decision making (government, healthcare CEOs), which often did not capture the voices and realities of nurses working in clinical environments. These decisions, mediated by social and political entities, drastically impacted nurses and their work, including new graduates. Little is known about how new graduate nurses navigated entry to practice during this unprecedented time. Furthermore, even less is known about how new graduate nurses potentially understood or enacted socio-political knowing during this transition to practice. Objective: (1) To better understand and communicate the ways in which second entry new graduate nurses spoke about nursing during the Covid-19 pandemic (2) To describe how second entry new graduate nurses understood and enacted socio-political knowing Methods: Using Thorne’s interpretive description approach, a secondary thematic analysis using qualitative data of eight second entry undergraduate nursing students was undertaken in order to attend to the research questions. White's (1995) work on socio-political knowing theoretically guided the study. Findings: Three themes emerged. School vs. Reality illustrated areas of disconnect between nursing education and the reality of nursing practice, whereby schooling created a narrow understanding of nursing and associated nursing work (tasks). Becoming a Nurse was illuminated in the data through participants speaking to their individualized experience of purposely choosing particular nursing jobs that, in this study, demonstrated socio-political knowing. The theme of Critical Reflections suggested that being older and having previous life experience fostered a sense of independence, self-awareness, and boundary setting which participants mobilized socio-political knowing to protect themselves against burnout and psychological distress they were readily witnessing in their NGN transition. Conclusion: Socio-political knowing continues to be neglected in nursing education and entry to practice supports, despite nurse researchers indicating a deep seeded need for all nurses, including nursing students, to have exposure to, and engagement with socio-political knowing. Participants in this study did however exhibit aspects of socio-political knowing, but believed these skills came from previous life experiences outside of their nursing education and were critical of the absence of this way of knowing in their training, both formally in nursing education, and in the workplace. Future research is needed to explore this topic among a larger sample of NGNs.