Student name
Capella University
FPX6116
Professor name
Submission Date
Course Definition and Alignment
The course “Transition to Professional Nursing Practice” is one of several courses offered as part of the Nurse Residency Program for newly licensed nurses in an employed setting. This course is designed to help start the transformation from the educational setting to the practice setting. This involves application of evidence-based practice, clinical judgment, and patient-centered care. This course is offered in a blended format to provide the most supportive environment for the needs of the novice nurse. This course strives to develop the nursing competency of the novice nurse as well as assist in the development of nursing professionalism and working collaboratively with the multidisciplinary healthcare team. This course is designed to meet the national standards of care and ensure the novice nurse provides safe and effective healthcare services.
Program Offering
Description
The Nurse Residency Program is designed to help new graduate registered nurses adapt to their role as professionals within the healthcare environment. This program prepares new graduate registered nurses for practice in multiple forms of healthcare environments, with emphasis on acute care (Mohammad & Al-Hmaimat, 2024). This program gives new graduate registered nurses the opportunity to establish their clinical skills and enhance their critical thinking and clinical judgment through the incorporation of evidence-based practice, patient safety, quality improvement, and collaboration across multiple health professions. The ultimate aim of a nurse residency program is to aid new graduate registered nurses with the establishment and practice of a profession in an educational framework that enhances the support of new graduate registered nurses, improves patient outcomes, and decreases both clinical errors and the incidence of nurse turnover (Rae et al., 2025). The residency program is an educational opportunity of 6 to 12 months to aid new graduate registered nurses in the profession of practicing as a registered nurse. The program also aims for the graduates of the program to leave the program as competent, safe, and confident practitioners of care in the many facets of the healthcare environment.
Program Learning Outcomes for Nurse Residency Program
Clinical Competence and Patient Safety
- Provide quality care that is safe and focused on the needs of the patient.
- Develop foundational skills in nursing and clinical care in an acute care setting.
Critical Thinking and Judgment
- Analyze and apply critical clinical reasoning in demanding situations.
- Identify and respond to changes in a patient’s status using clinical judgment.
Interprofessional Collaboration
- Collaborate with members of an interdisciplinary healthcare team to manage the care of a patient.
- Possess excellent communication skills and use them to engage with patients and their families as well as members of the healthcare team.
Career development and Responsibility
- Accountability and consistency with ethical standards must be evident in your practice.
- Support your lifelong learning and career development with the aid of reflective practice.
Course Title: “Transition to Professional Nursing Practice”
Course Definition
Length of Course
The course is a part of the Nurse Residency Program and lasts for 8 weeks. One week of the course consists of 3 teaching hours. The course combines several different teaching methods such as synchronous, simulation, and group-based teaching. During the scheduled clinical shifts while the residents are in the hospital, the concepts taught during the course are applied.
Purpose of the Course (Rationale)
This course helps newly licensed registered nurses adapt to both the academic and the working world. The adjustment to the world of professional nursing is challenging because of the high level of responsibility coupled with the myriad specialized needs of hospital patients. This course helps the new nurse to increase the clinical aspect of their self-assurance and nursing practice. The course teaches the application of evidence-based practice and its role in clinical judgement. This ensures that the residents receive safe, effective, and competent nursing care based on the standards of practice. It uses a learning methodology based on simulation that integrates critical thinking and is adaptable. This methodology of teaching fulfills the nursing community’s standards of safety and quality.
Target Audience
This program is intended for registered nurses who are part of a hospital nurse residency program. These are registered nurses who have recently graduated and are moving into their first full practice clinical role as a nurse from an accredited program. Clinically, this program is also useful to the registered nurse who has limited experience as a way to develop and enhance clinical skills and self-confidence as well as improve overall nursing function and competence.
Credit Hours, Location, and Rationale
The purpose of this course is to offer a career development tool for Nurse Residents as a part of a Nurse Residency Program in a healthcare setting. This course closes knowledge gaps regarding clinical practice readiness, including the integration of clinical judgment and the use of evidence-based practice. This course is part of the Nurse Residency Program to address gaps in fulfilling the requirements of national standards and to enhance the preparedness of new graduate nurses within the hospital.
Course Learning Objectives
- To practice safe and effective use of evidence-based clinical practice in the provision of care to our patients.
- To identify and analyze the clinical reasoning and rationale in the management of various patients.
- To competently and safely perform elementary nursing skills and interventions.
- To effectively work and collaborate with different health care workers to attain best coordinated patient care.
Evaluation and Assessment Strategies and Examples
- To evaluate pre- and post-course student knowledge of clinical concepts and evidence-based practice (Cognitive domain).
- To perform an evaluation of the level of emotional response students have when performing clinical work, as well as evaluate the level of career development (Affective domain).
- To perform a final competency assessment to incorporate peer feedback on performance and evidence-based clinical practice in patient care (Psychomotor domain).
Assumption
This course is built on several assumptions. The first assumes that new graduate registered nurses need some help as they make the transition from education to practice. The second assumes that nurses should base their practice on evidence. This will help them improve the outcomes of the services they provide and assist them in making informed decisions (Matlhaba & Nkoane 2024). The third assumption states that nurses should apply learning strategies that will enhance their conceptual and practical understanding of the skills of nursing practice. The fourth assumption postulates that throughout the course of one’s career, the process of developing a career should be viewed as an ongoing process that requires consistency and dedication.
Alignment Tables
Table 01
Course Learning Objectives to Assessments and Domains of Learning
Number | Course Learning Objectives | Assessments | Domains of Learning |
1 | Apply evidence-based clinical practices. | Pre- and post-course knowledge assessments. | Cognitive |
2 | Demonstrate Clinical Reasoning. | Simulation-based performance evaluation. | Cognitive, Psychomotor |
3 | Perform essential nursing skills. | Final competency assessment | Psychomotor |
4 | Collaborate with healthcare teams. | Reflective journaling and peer feedback | Affective |
Description of Assessment and Evaluation Strategies
Measures for cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains of learning are included in the course. Formative and summative assessments are the two main types of evaluation of student learning. Examples of formative assessments are multiple-choice quizzes, discussions, and reflective journals. Simulations and competency exams are examples of summative assessments (Aase et al., 2022). While formative assessments give students the opportunity to reflect on their progress, it is the case that summative assessments indicate the extent of a student’s knowledge and skills.
Knowledge Gap
The structure of the course content was well done; however, I still identified some deficiencies in the design. For instance, residents differ both in the amount and type of experience they have gained clinically and also have differing learning styles (Mohamed et al., 2024). Further, because of the very subjective nature of the variables being measured in this case (affective), it becomes even more difficult to define progress.
Table 02
Course Learning Objectives to Program Outcomes
Number | Course Learning Objectives | Program Outcomes |
1 | Apply evidence-based clinical practices. | Clinical Competence and Patient Safety. |
2 | Demonstrate clinical reasoning. | Critical thinking and clinical judgement. |
3 | Perform essential nursing skills. | Clinical Competence and Patient Safety. |
4 | Collaborate with healthcare teams. | Interprofessional Collaboration and Communication. |
Quality of Alignment
Each course in this program aligns with the learning objectives such that students can be confident to have mastered all the learning objectives for their degree upon completion. The overall degree outcome measure is provided for every program, and explains the outcome measure used for this program. The clinical component of each of the three phases of the clinical training program, combined with the simulation elements of this program, provides ample evidence of the articulation of courses in the whole program. One can therefore assess learning of the student across a number of courses in the program using this information, and it can be concluded that articulation of courses exists.
Conclusion
The course called “Transition to Professional Nursing Practice” is an essential element of our Nurse Residency Program because it provides new nursing graduates with the necessary support in transitioning into professional nursing practice. The focus of the course on evidence-based practice, clinical competence, and career development aligns with the program’s overall outcomes and national nursing standards. Additionally, this course includes all three domains of learning — cognitive, psychomotor, and affective — which is an additional benefit. Ultimately, this course supports nurses to become confident, competent providers who provide high- quality and safe patient care in healthcare environments.
| Table 03: Course Learning Objectives to External Standards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Learning Objectives | Learning Objectives to External Standards | Objective 1 | Objective 2 | Objective 3 |
| Apply evidence-based clinical practices to support safe and effective patient care. | AACN Essentials (2021) – Domain 2: Person-Centered Care; Domain 7: Systems-Based Practice (Burke et al., 2024) Person-Centered Care (Domain 2): Patients are at the center of the care we offer, customized to each person’s preferences, needs, and values. We are committed to including the values of patients in service offerings. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Demonstrate clinical reasoning and decision-making in simulated and real patient care scenarios. | Systems-Based Practice (Domain 7): Show comprehension of the healthcare delivery systems and apply this comprehension to organize care and enhance outcomes and system performance. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Perform nursing skills and procedures accurately and safely. | QSEN Competency – Patient-Centered Care, Safety, Teamwork & Collaboration (AlRatrout et al., 2025) Patient-Centered Care: Respect and respond to patient preferences. Safety: Decrease the potential for patient harm by making certain systems and individual nursing actions are effective. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Collaborate with interprofessional teams to coordinate patient-centered care. | Teamwork and Collaboration: Function effectively within the nursing and interprofessional team to promote open communication and shared decision-making. NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators – Facilitate Learning, Curriculum Design (Ye et al., 2021) Facilitate Learning: Encourage the development of critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills as well as evidence-based practice in clinical settings to improve the learning process. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| INACSL Standards of Best Practice: Simulation℠ (2021) (Finstad et al., 2021) | Facilitation: Facilitate the learner’s development of clinical competence, engagement, and decision-making through the application of evidence-based simulation strategies. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Criteria Multiple criteria are used to evaluate the quality of the alignment. One of these criteria is curriculum mapping. This is done to ensure the alignment of course objectives with the professional standards. Another criterion is the performance-based assessment. This criterion is fulfilled when the required performance is demonstrated. Feedback is another criterion used to evaluate alignment. These criteria ensure the course is relevant and aligned with the standards of the healthcare field. | ||||
References NURS FPX 6116 Assessment 2
You can use these references on your assessment:
Aase, I., Akerjordet, K., Crookes, P., Frøiland, C. T., & Laugaland, K. A. (2022). Exploring the formal assessment discussions in clinical nursing education: An observational study. BioMed Central Nursing, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-022-00934-x
AlRatrout, S., Abu Khader, A. I., Al-Bashtawy, M., Asia, M., Alkhawaldeh, A., & Bani Hani, S. (2025). The impact of the Quality and Safety Education (QSEN) program on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of junior nurses. Public Library of Science ONE, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317448
Burke, M. D., Bindon, S., Akintade, B., & Idzik, S. (2024). The AACN essentials: An intentional framework for successful implementation. Journal of Professional Nursing, 52, 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2024.03.009
Finstad, A. S., Ballangrud, R., Aase, I., Wisborg, T., Romundstad, L. G., & Bjørshol, C. A. (2021). Is simulation-based team training performed by personnel in accordance with the INACSL standards of best practice: Simulation SM? —A qualitative interview study. Advances in Simulation, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41077-021-00186-w
Lye, M. I. M., Schlak, A. E., Thies, J., Higgins, P. S., & Couig, M. P. (2025). A landscape of evidence on RN transition to practice programs. Medical Care, 64(1), 26–37. https://doi.org/10.1097/mlr.0000000000002230
Matlhaba, K. L., & Nkoane, N. L. (2024). Factors influencing clinical competence of new graduate nurses employed in selected public hospitals of North West Province: Operational Managers’ perspectives. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 20, 100683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2024.100683
Mohamed, M., Mersal, F. A., Fawzy, M. S., Rajennal, A. T., Alanazi, R. S., & Alanazi, L. O. (2024). Challenges of nursing students during clinical training: A nursing perspective. AIMS Public Health, 11(2), 379–398. https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2024019
Mohammad, Z., & Al-Hmaimat, N. (2024). The effectiveness of nurse residency programs on new graduate nurses’ retention: Systematic review. Heliyon, 10(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26272
Rae, M., Loh, L. W. L., Neo, N. W. S., Mordiffi, S. Z., Toh, Z. A., Koh, C. S. L., Woo, B. F. Y., & Ang, W. H. D. (2025). Registered nurses’ experiences of the graduate nurse residency program: A qualitative study. Nurse Education Today, 148, 106638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2025.106638
Ye, J., Tao, W., Yang, L., Xu, Y., Zhou, N., & Wang, J. (2021). Developing core competencies for clinical nurse educators: An e-Delphi study. Nurse Education Today, 109, 105217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.105217
Related assessments for this class:
NURS FPX 6116 Assessment 3
