An exploration of undergraduate nursing assistant employment in aged care and its value to undergraduate nursing education

Aims: To explore the types of nursing skills that are learnt through work as nursing assistants in aged care; and determine how these skills help to prepare novice nurses for new graduate practice as a Registered Nurse. Background: Issues surrounding patient care currently plague the aged care sector in Australia. Undergraduate Assistants in Nursing are undergraduate nursing students who work in a variety of clinical settings, including aged care facilities. The employment of nursing students in aged care is not well explored. Design: This paper presents the findings from an open-response question in the Preparation for Clinical Practice survey. The survey represented the first stage of a larger sequential mixed-methods study that explored how undergraduate Assistant in Nursing employment in aged care contributed to the preparation of new graduate Registered Nurses for clinical practice. Setting: Data were predominantly collected online via an online survey platform. Social media and snowball sampling methods were utilised to distribute the survey nation-wide. Participants: New graduate nurses (n = 108) who were previously employed as undergraduate Assistants in Nursing in an aged care facility during their Bachelor of Nursing program. Methods: Thematic analysis was used to analyse data from the open-response question in the survey. Findings: Three main themes were created: developing communication skills, prioritising patient care, and professional growth through immersion. Conclusions: Undergraduate Assistant in Nursing employment in aged care prepared novice nurses for new graduate practice, developing higher-order nursing skills in communication, time management, understanding various aspects of care from the patient's unique experiences, and understanding the structure of the healthcare organisation.