N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse

N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse Role Study Guide of 171 Role Conflict Role conflict occurs when an individual is faced with expectations that are incompatible with each other. These expectations can be intrapersonal or interpersonal. In intrapersonal role conflict, the individual experiences internal conflicts between multiple role expectations, such as family, work, and academic roles. This is often an issue for the adult who returns to school and needs to balance the roles of parent, spouse, friend, employee, and student, leading to feelings of stress and overload. Role conflict can also negatively affect the role transition process. Another aspect of intrapersonal role conflict relates to the individual’s perception of the role of Registered Nurse. Often there is a conflict between the “ideal role” (society’s expectations), the “perceived role” (the individual’s expectations), and the “performed role” (what a Registered Nurse actually does). Marlene Kramer says that nurses go through stages of attaining skills while experiencing social integration. She describes the conflict that new nurses face when they compare the expectations they developed in school with the reality they find in the workplace as reality shock. The nurse must learn to maintain the professional standards he or she learned in school while adapting to the needs of the work group. This is the social integration stage of reality shock. This process of re-socialization is also experienced by RNs who return to school, as in the process of a registered nurse returning to school for a BSN or other degree. It is described as compliance, identification, and internalization. The process has also been described as honeymoon, conflict, and reintegration. Unfortunately, some RN or LPN students continue to defend their original identity and find it difficult to completely accept the value of the baccalaureate program. These students are described as resisting the opportunity for real growth and positive change. The Change Process Change can be either individual or organizational. Organizational change is the process of changing how organizations function or behave. Individual change is the same process for a single person. There are several factors that can motivate change, for example, a crisis, conflict, or disappointment in an individual’s life or career, such as not receiving a promotion. Another factor is the desire for autonomy and self-improvement. Change can be developmental, unplanned, or planned. Planned change involves thinking about and preparing for change ahead of the process. Change theory is a systematic way to evaluate and prepare for planned change. The assumption underlying change theory is that in the end, change is good, although the change process can be difficult. Having a positive attitude, being flexible, and using appropriate coping mechanisms can helpmake the transition easier. Most writing about change is concernedwith how to change, while ignoring whether change is needed at all. People have different needs regarding change, thus the reader will have his or her own opinion about whether change is needed in a particular instance. Most writing on change also assumes that people are resistant to it. They must then be coerced into changing. Nurses who are studying management or who are already managers are interested in the best ways to implement change. A significant part of the nurse manager’s job is to create change or deal with change in the current environment. ©2017 Achieve Test Prep Page 36