Preparing for role transition

In your new graduate role, you will find yourself in situations where both your personal and university-acquired values, ideals and behaviours may require some adjustment in order to meet the expectations of the clinical setting. Transition from student to graduate is a challenging process that you will find both exciting and rewarding. During this period, you will experience rapid growth as a person and as a professional, and as a result of this process you are likely to experience emotional highs and lows. It is likely that you will feel some anxiety and apprehension about how well you will function in your new role and whether or not you will meet the expectations of the institution, your colleagues and your patients.8 No amount of prior learning or experience can completely prepare you for role transition, but thoughtful preparation can help to ease the stress and strain.9 In this chapter, we focus on furthering your understanding of the graduate role and how you can prepare yourself to meet the organisational expectations of your role performance during transition by utilising role theory as the underlying perspective.