New Graduate Nurses' Transition to Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Voices of Clinical Nurse Educators From the Front Lines

Introduction: Although COVID-19 may no longer be a global public health emergency, it is imperative to continue to reflect on the lessons learned from it, especially from the front-line nurses and nurse educators, to ensure effective nursing workforce response to disasters and emergencies of all kinds. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the new graduate nurses (NGNs) by altering their transition to practice (TTP) experiences. Many studies have examined perceptions and voices of educators from nursing education programs and NGNs about their experiences of transitioning to practice during the pandemic. However, clinical nurse educators' voices are lacking. Method: This qualitative descriptive study explored clinical nurse educators' perspectives on the differences in TTP before and during the pandemic. Results: The preliminary results encompassed two themes No hands on and Used to interacting with mannequins that point to root causes of greater struggles NGNs who transitioned to practice during the pandemic faced compared to their pre-pandemic counterparts. Conclusion: Safely maintaining clinical access to learners during public health emergencies will be imperative to ensure NGNs enter practice prepared to provide safe and high-quality care.