The collegial clinical model for orientation of new graduate nurses: a strategy to improve the transition from student nurse to professional nurse.

The orientation process assists the graduate nurse (GN) to make the transition from nursing student to professional nurse. The collegial clinical model is an orientation strategy that was designed, developed, and implemented to assist GNs with this transition. GNs are familiar with the composition of a clinical group as this is the manner in which the hospital experiences are designed in nursing school. With the nurse educator effectively functioning as a clinical instructor during 3 days of the clinical orientation, the GNs ease into the transition to the unit on which they will be working. Four GNs hired to work on the postpartum unit during June 2006 participated in the pilot test of the collegial clinical model. Quotations from the reflective journal exercise that the GNs completed clearly show the benefit of this type of orientation. Preorientation and postorientation meetings with preceptors also highlight the benefits of this model as an orientation strategy.