Incorporating an undergraduate student in nursing program into the workforce: A prospective observational study

Objectives: The objective was to describe the organisational perspective of the implementation of the Undergraduate Student in Nursing (USIN) program and to describe the experience of nursing staff working with these Undergraduate Students in Nursing.

Design: Prospective, observation design.

Setting: The study took place at a large tertiary paediatric hospital in Brisbane, Australia over a twelve month period.

Subjects: Participants were registered nurses (n=169) employed in a permanent capacity in the following clinical areas – medical, surgical, rehabilitation, paediatric intensive care unit and perioperative.

Interventions: Pre and post staff questionnaires were distributed to staff based on three domains; anticipated thought; assertion in the workplace and role delineation; and reflective practice.

Results: Prior to implementation of USINs, the primary concerns of staff surrounding the introduction of the role included; impact on patient safety, poor skill mix, decrease in quality of care and patient and family satisfaction, impact on unit/ward operation, and the potential attitudes of the students. At 12 months post-implementation, respondents felt that patient safety had increased, skill mix had not been adversely impacted, workload had improved, overall quality of patient care and satisfaction had increased among children and parents.

Conclusion: This introduction improved important elements within the clinical space such as patient safety and quality of care. Registered nurses perceived their workload was reduced and parent and child satisfaction was increased. The results of this study could be generalised beyond paediatrics to adult facilities. We would recommend other organisations consider this model if faced with similar workforce demands.