ABSTRACT Background: Student nurse extern (SNE) programs are designed to support the transition from nursing student to novice registered nurse by providing immersive clinical experiences before graduation. These programs may help address workforce shortages by improving students' readiness for practice. Purpose: To examine the effect of participation in a student nurse externship program on nursing students' perceived readiness for professional practice. Methods: A descriptive pretest–posttest design was used. Fifteen senior-level nursing students participating in a 9-week paid externship at an urban, not-for-profit acute care hospital completed the Perceived Outcomes of Nurse Externship Survey at program entry and completion. Paired t tests were used to evaluate changes in total and subscale scores. Results: Participants demonstrated a clinically meaningful improvement in perceived readiness for practice, with a 13.9% increase in total survey scores from pretest to posttest. Both readiness for practice and workplace climate subscales showed similar improvements. Conclusions: Participation in an immersive SNE program was associated with improved perceptions of preparedness for professional nursing practice. SNE programs may serve as an effective strategy to enhance the transition to practice and strengthen the nursing workforce pipeline.
Hamilton et al. (2026) studied this question.
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