NURS FPX 6116 Assessment 2 Course Definition and Alignment Table

Course Definition and Alignment Table

Student name

Capella University

NURS FPX 6116

Professor name

Submission date

“Transition to Professional Nursing Practice” is an integral course in the hospital-based Nurse Residency Program for registered nurses. The course is focused on the transition from academia to practice using evidence-informed practice, decision-making, and patient-centred practice. This course is delivered in a blended format with the aim of fostering a safe learning environment for novice nurses. This course aims to promote nursing competence, confidence, and team collaboration skills. It is mapped to the national nursing standards to ensure the trainee nurses practice safely and effectively in the challenging health care environment.

Program Offering

Description

A Nurse Residency Program for New Graduate Registered Nurses is a hospital-based career development opportunity designed to support and assist new graduate registered nurses in transitioning to practice as registered nurses. The residency program is a career development opportunity for new graduate registered nurses transitioning to practice in a range of healthcare settings, with a preference for acute care settings (Mohammad & Al-Hmaimat, 2024). The residency program offers new graduate registered nurses a robust education opportunity to improve their clinical, critical thinking, and decision-making skills, with an emphasis on evidence-based practice, quality improvement, patient safety, and interprofessional practice.

The ultimate aim of a nurse residency program is to offer new graduate registered nurses an educationally rich and supportive transition to practice, with a focus on improved patient outcomes, reduced errors, and increased nurse retention (Rae et al., 2025). The residency program is a 6-12 month education and career development opportunity to support new graduate registered nurses’ transition to practice as professional registered nurses, with an emphasis on preparing new graduate registered nurses to be competent and confident practitioners to deliver safe patient care in various health care settings.

Program Learning Outcomes for Nurse Residency Program

Clinical Competence and Patient Safety

• Deliver safe, patient-focused care and incorporate evidence-based clinical practices.
• Demonstrate proficiency in essential nursing care and practices for acute care.

Critical Thinking and Judgment

• Apply clinical reasoning and decision-making in complex care situations.
• Recognise patients’ changing status and respond accordingly through application of clinical judgment skills.

Interprofessional Collaboration

• Collaborate as part of an interdisciplinary health care team to provide patient care.
• Apply communication techniques when interacting with patients, families, and health care professionals.

Career development and Responsibility

• Take responsibility and act ethically.
• Engage in reflective practice to enhance their lifelong learning and career development.

Course Title: “Transition to Professional Nursing Practice”

Course Definition

Length of Course

The course is an 8-week course within the Nurse Residency Program. The course sessions are 3 hours long each week. The course includes a combination of synchronous, simulation, and group activities. Theories learned in the course are applied in practice in the hospital while the residents are on shift.

Purpose of the Course (Rationale)

This course provides “bridge” support for newly registered nurses from the academic environment to the clinical environment to ease the transition to their new profession as a nurse in the acute-care setting, which can be challenging given the increased clinical responsibility and change in the care needs of the patients. The course provides support to the new nurse by improving their clinical expertise, self-confidence, and professionalism (Lye et al., 2025).

The course enables the resident to apply evidence-based practice to inform their decisions while in the clinical environment and thus provide nursing care using the professional standards of care, which is safe and effective. The resident’s critical thinking and adaptability skills are further fostered through the use of simulation-based learning, as well as demonstrating the required nursing care with a focus on the nursing profession’s quality and safety standards.

Target Audience

This is a course for new graduate registered nurses in a Nurse Residency Program in hospitals. This includes recently graduated registered nurses from nursing programs who are in their first position as registered nurses. This course may also be applied by registered nurses who have some clinical experience but are looking to improve their clinical skills, confidence, and nursing competency in a hospital environment.

Credit Hours, Location, and Rationale

This is a non-credit hour career development course in a Nurse Residency Program in a hospital/other healthcare settings. It is part of the Nurse Residency Program to address knowledge gaps in readiness for clinical practice, such as clinical reasoning, communication, and evidence-based practice. It is part of the program to meet national standards and increase readiness for new graduate nurses in the hospital.

Course Learning Objectives

• To be able to critically apply evidence-based clinical practices safely and effectively to the care of our patients.
• To demonstrate the clinical decision-making and reasoning in different patient scenarios and clinical situations.
• To be able to carry out basic nursing skills and procedures safely and correctly.
• To be able to communicate and work with other health care professionals to provide patient care.

Evaluation and Assessment Strategies and Examples

• To assess the levels of knowledge of students before and after the course on clinical concepts and evidence-based practice (Cognitive domain)
• To conduct a practical assessment using simulations or simulated activities to assess students’ clinical skills and their decision-making ability in their particular field of expertise (Psychomotor domain).
• To make a judgment regarding the level of professional development and the level of emotional reaction to the clinical practice and work done (Affective domain).
• To perform an evaluation based on students’ peer feedback on their contributions to the group dynamics and analysis of the case study work in collaboration with others.
• To conduct a summative assessment in the form of a competency test that provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and how they would apply evidence-based practice to care for patients.

Assumption

This course is framed by several assumptions. First of all, new graduate registered nurses require assistance while transitioning into practice. Secondly, nurses must practice according to the evidence so that they may improve patient outcomes/ service delivery and make informed decisions (Matlhaba and Nkoane 2024). Thirdly, nurses must engage in active learning techniques to build both their conceptual understanding as well as their practical skill base; and finally, career development is a continuous journey and requires ongoing effort/commitment.

Alignment Tables

Table 01

 Course Learning Objectives to Assessments and Domains of Learning

Description of Assessment and Evaluation Strategies

In the course, the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning areas are assessed. There are two types of assessment methods used to assess learning: formative and summative.

Knowledge Gap

Whilst the curriculum for the course was well-defined, there were some problems with the content. One issue was that the learners were diverse in terms of their learning styles and their level of experience (Mohamed et al., 2024). Similarly, it was more difficult to assess progress due to the use of subjective (affective) evaluations.

Table 02

 Course Learning Objectives to Program Outcomes

Quality of Alignment

There is an alignment in the learning objectives for each of the courses in this program, on which the student can rely and be certain to have achieved all the learning objectives necessary for the degree. The measure of learning is the overall measure of learning for the degree, which is stated for all degrees. The combination of the clinical aspect of each of the three phases of the clinical training program and the simulation component of this program offers sufficient evidence that an alignment exists between courses within this program. As such, it is possible to measure student learning across courses within the program through the use of this information and then conclude that an alignment exists.

Conclusion

The course, titled “Transition to Professional Nursing Practice,” is a critical component of our Nurse Residency Program as it supports novice nurses to transition to professional nursing practice. The course’s emphasis on evidence-based practice, clinical competence, and career development meets the overall goals of the program and national nursing standards. And this course covers the three domains of learning – cognitive, psychomotor, and affective – which adds to the value of the course. Overall, this course helps nurses to become safe, competent practitioners and deliver quality and safe patient care across health care settings.

For the Next (3rd ) Assessment of this class visit: NURS FPX 6116 Assessment 3