Abstract: In this research paper for a Master of Nursing (Clinical), the author suggests that graduate nurses can successfully adapt to emergency nursing when supported with intensive domain-specific transition programmes to complement the national nursing entry to practice (NETP) programme in New Zealand. This outcome conflicts with the present traditional emergency department recruitment strategy that nurses must have two years acute care experience. The graduate believes they are prepared for practice for any healthcare setting but do need time to resolve the rift between theory and practice. This research project confirms the perpetuation of experienced nurses' perceptions that graduates are not work-ready but are unrealistically expected to hit the floor running following ad hoc orientation ranging from three days to four weeks. By creating domain-specific programmes with a minimum twelve-week staged rotation orientation package, graduate nurses can be nurtured as emergency nurses. The influential role of the organisation and experienced nurses is vital to limit reality shock and complement NETP. Preceptorship and mentorship programmes promote the graduates' confidence in themselves to become competent team members. Limits to this research are the non-differentiation between nurses new to emergency nursing and the graduate nurse in the published studies. Assumptions have therefore been made regarding successful transition in regard to newly qualified registered nurses in the emergency department. Further study and evaluation applicable in the New Zealand context is also recommended by the author where anecdotally only a few emergency departments are involved in socialising graduate nurses into the workforce regardless of the urgent need for more first-year-of-practice clinical placements.

Abstract: This thesis explores triage code as a predictor of direct nursing care time, thus its potential usefulness in a model for calculating and allocating nurse requirements in emergency departments. A framework for nursing work is proposed. This framework is based on the works of O'Brien-Pallas, Irvine, Peereboom, and Murray (1997) and Houser (2003). It suggests that the structures of environmental complexity, nursing characteristics, patient nursing complexity, and patient medical condition and severity, impact on the processes of direct and indirect nursing care to affect patient outcomes. A prospective, non-experimental study was undertaken to examine the relationship between direct nursing care time and triage code. Six potential confounding variables were selected for this study: length of stay, age, ethnicity, sex, complaint type, and discharge category. Data were collected for 261 visits over a three day period in one New Zealand emergency department. Patient visits averaged 200 minutes. The mean direct nursing care time per visit was 49 minutes. On average, patients with more urgent triage codes, longer length of stay, or who were not discharged, received more direct nursing care. The model developed predicted 49% of variation in direct nursing care time (p < .05) related to triage code (16%), length of stay (31%) and disposition category (2%). The author suggests that further exploration of the proposed framework has potential to develop a model allowing managers to identify nurse staffing required for optimal nursing care in emergency departments.