Exploring ‘Graduateness’ from an International perspective.

This travel scholarship was undertaken due to the generosity of the sponsors, The Sandra Trust and I sincerely appreciate being able to undertake this work which has resulted in both personal and professional growth.  The scholarship set out to investigate the perceptions of nursing staff, university staff and students from Canada, America and Australia in relation to the graduate nursing workforce and ‘graduateness’.  Graduateness’ is defined by Clinton et al (2005, p83) as:

‘if nurses prepared through degree programmes are distinct from those qualifying at diploma level, then this difference can be understood as representing ‘graduateness’’.

The overarching aim of the study was to achieve a deeper understanding of graduates within nursing from the perspective of an international experience.  This was undertaken by collating the viewpoints of individuals through a reflective account.

When synthesising the raw data from all countries it was evident that themes influencing nursing practice had an impact on the workforce, and this resulted in a model being developed which included degree attributes.    In all countries visited the value of a graduate workforce was articulated and included identification of skills including;  clinical decision making, critical thinking, divergent integrative thinking, research skills, evidence informed practice and being a patient advocate.  Views of associate degree and diploma nurses were that of a more technical nurse who often had more clinical skills at point of registration.  In addition the non-graduate nurses were viewed as not having deeper level thinking and were very ‘task orientated’ rather than being able to assimilation information in the way graduates were perceived to do so.  The impact of this assimilation of information was correlated with better collaboration with colleagues, improved patient safety and overall improved care for patients.

Insights and areas for further exploration include; sharing findings locally, nationally and internationally, sharing key elements within Scottish pre-registration nursing networks and universities and further studies on the graduate workforce within Scotland.  It is hoped these actions will both add to the evidence base in relation to ‘graduateness’ and provide reassurance and confidence in the workforce for the profession and the public.