Tasks and roles of newly bachelor graduates of nursing in acute care settings - A scoping review

Tasks and roles of newly bachelor graduates of nursing in acute care settings - A scoping review Abstract. Background: Despite the need, institutions in the German-speaking health care system are still not prepared for newly qualified bachelor graduates of professional nursing programs, since task and role profiles for their use in the acute care setting are not available. Aim: The aim is to provide an international overview of tasks and roles of newly qualified bachelor graduates in the acute care setting. Methods: The search covered the period from 2010 to 2021 in the databases CINAHL and MEDLINE. Publications in German and English were included in the scoping review regardless of their study designs. Results: The eight included studies follow mostly a qualitative design (n = 5), two studies had a cross-section design and one a mixed-methods design. They were predominantly conducted in the Scandinavian (n = 3) and North American (n = 3) regions. The results show a mix of tasks and roles in which bachelor graduates are employed in basic nursing care, as educators (including lecturers) and in medication management of all age groups, as well as for advanced pediatric lifesaving, monitoring and maintenance of equipment for assessment and diagnostics plus as managers of nursing teams. Conclusions: There is a nationally need for the development of task and role profiles for specific care settings derived from existing competency attributions. Training programs based on these profiles support transition into the acute care setting and promote the assurance of quality interprofessional care.