Nursing is a
complex profession that requires a flexible individual to acculturate to new
environments quickly. The ongoing cultural diversity among the nursing students
and the work environment has created a need for flexibility in the nursing
profession. Professional acculturation can be explained as the process of
internalizing the norms, attitudes and values of a professional culture are
internalized (Feng & Tsai, 2012). Similarly, it can also be challenging to
adapt to a new experience as a recent graduate in the culture of the nursing
profession. The acculturation experience as a new graduate to the nursing
profession's culture is usually easy for some and hard for others. Therefore,
the paper will present a description of my acculturation experience as a new
graduate to the culture of the nursing profession.
Need Help? Don’t Be Shy To Ask.
My acculturation
experience as a new graduate to the culture of the nursing profession can be
described as stressful and full of anxiety. Just like most of my old and new
nursing colleagues who joined the team within the past year, the new
environment seemed complicated at first. For instance, I had issues
reorganizing the study programs, which contributed to stress and anxiety.
However, it did not take me long for me to adapt and normalize the
acculturation to the culture of the nursing profession. It also took me a while
to understand how to deal with patients from diverse backgrounds and implement
the knowledge learned in class in the work environment.
As a new
graduate, I know that the nursing profession is based on the traditional value
and norms of providing care to patients despite their cultural backgrounds.
However, it was challenging to implement the values and traditional standards
related to providing better care to patients from diverse backgrounds. The
results from different researchers show that it takes the support of the nurses
who require a lot of help to transition from their school environment and adapt
to the workplace's demanding environment (Cook et al., 2021). Acculturation is very important as it
allows the new graduate nurses to slowly internalize the latest norms and
values of a professional culture. As a result, it is possible to say that my
difficulties in acculturating to the new experience were assisted by the
support received from my colleagues in the new environment.
I also learned
the need for communication and mutual collaboration when working as a nurse
professional in the working environment. This was challenging at first,
considering that I could not even memorize some of the names of my colleagues
in the nursing environment. I also understood that it was a common issue even
among the new graduates who joined our team in the past years. However, it
becomes easy to normalize to the nursing profession's new norms and cultural
practices after a while. Therefore, my acculturation experience as a new
graduate to the culture of the nursing profession can be described as that of
other new graduates who joined the workforce in the past years. It can be
challenging to master the new norms, culture, attributes and values in the
nursing profession, but it becomes easy to adapt as time passes. Adapting to
cultural practices is essential for every nurse to ensure effective and
competent nursing care in the changing environment. It is also vital to ensure
collaboration and safety among nurses in the nursing profession.
Need Help? Don’t Be Shy To Ask.
References
Cook, M., Gehrich, P.,
& Price, A. (2021). Enhancing Support for New Graduate Nurses. Journal
For Nurses In Professional Development, 37(2), 114-116.
https://doi.org/10.1097/nnd.0000000000000677
Feng, R., & Tsai,
Y. (2012). Socialisation of new graduate nurses to practising nurses. Journal
Of Clinical Nursing, 21(13-14), 2064-2071.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03992.x
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