Describe the Stages of Novice to Expert
Describe the Stages of Novice to Expert
Nursing is a profession that plays an important role in healthcare by assisting patients, families and communities in recovering and maintaining optimal health. As a science, nursing aims at promoting quality of life by meeting the health needs of individuals, families and communities. It is important to note that nurses use expert knowledge to provide health care throughout their career life. This expert knowledge comes from evidence-based practice, which involves research, clinical knowledge and patient values. Clinical knowledge is what influences nurses’ clinical judgment and quality of care in the various clinical situations. Benner proposed five stages through which nurses acquire expertise required in the practice. These stages are: Novice, advanced beginner, competent practitioner, proficient practitioner, and expert practitioner (Blais & Hayes, 2016).
Most of the nurses at this stage are in nursing schools and their performance in patient care is limited. They are guided by general rules and regulations that help them perform assigned tasks since they are beginners in practice with no relevant experience. Notably, the behavior of novices in a clinical setting is quite limited and inflexible. Their ability to predict patient situations is limited such that they require guidance in order to recognize changes in signs and symptoms of patients. For instance, they keep asking their seniors what to do next.
Stage 2: Advanced Beginner
Advanced beginners are nurses in their first jobs after they have graduated from nursing schools. These nurses have some prior experiences that help them recognize recurrent and meaningful aspects of a clinical situation. Although they have know-how and knowledge about some clinical situations, they are guided by specific principles that are based on experiences. This way, advanced beginners are able to demonstrate some levels of acceptable performance in their practice. Additionally, they are efficient and skillful in certain areas of practice though with occasional supportive cues from their mentors.
Stage 3: Competent Practitioner
These nurses have some mastery in practice and they can depend on organizational skills and advance planning even though their speed and flexibility cannot match that of proficient nurses. As a result, they are able to draw a line between important and less important factors while attending to their clients and, thus meet complex demands of care. Meleis (2011) asserts that competent nurses have two to three years of experience that enables them to recognize quickly the nature and patterns of various clinical situations.
Stage 4: Proficient Practitioner
At this point, nurses are able to recognize situations with completeness rather than parts. These nurses have three to five years of experience and holistic understanding, which in turn improves decision-making on clinical situations. Proficient nurses rely on maxims and experience to modify plans in response to various events that occur in their line of duty. Further, nurses at this level concentrate on long-term goals and are at a position of seeing the global picture of the nursing practice.
Stage 5: Expert Practitioner
Expert nurses no longer depend on rules, regulations, guidelines, or maxims in comprehending the various clinical situations for appropriate actions to be taken. They are highly proficient and flexible in performance and illustrate high levels of analytic and intuitive ability when faced with new situations. According to Wheeler, Wong and Shanley (2009), these nurses attain their goals with efficiency because they can recognize demands and resources more quickly and accurately since they know what needs to be done with what resources. Worth noting is that expert nurses employ analytical tools only when events occur contrary to their expectations or their experience is limited in a certain event.
Which stage am I in this expert journey?
I am in the novice stage. I have no experience in clinical problems because I am currently a nursing student. When I go to practice, I am guided by rules and regulations such that my performance is quite limited. For me to recognize signs and symptoms in patients I must have had experience with clients with similar signs and symptoms in the past.
References
Blais, K., & Hayes, J. S. (2016). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives. Boston: Pearson.
Meleis, A. I. (2011). Theoretical nursing: Development and progress. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Wheeler, D. S., Wong, H. R., & Shanley, T. P. (2009). Science and practice of pediatric critical care medicine. London: Springer.
