What Makes a Nurse Ready to Practice?

A practice-ready nurse is one who can make consistent, effective clinical judgements, and know when to ask for assistance, says this nursing leader.

As CNOs focus on recruiting and retaining new graduate nurses, they must look for candidates who are both qualified and ready to practice.

After getting hired for the first time, it takes time for new-to-practice nurses to get comfortable practicing autonomously in the workforce. However, new-to-practice nurses in 2025 have different needs and workflows than nurses of previous generations.

According to Nicole Williams, director of content and test development at the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), there are more newly licensed nurses working in the emergency department, critical care, and high acuity areas, where they will have to make more consistent and effective clinical judgments. As patient populations age and have higher patient acuity, there is more urgency for new nurses to engage in effective clinical decision-making from the beginning of their careers.

"As newly licensed nurses begin to gain practice experiences, they come to recognize patterns more regularly, recognize cues, and can readily synthesize salient cues in order to make effective clinical judgments," William said.

Clinical judgement is essential

The NCSBN recently published a study that details characteristics of new-to-practice nurses and how long it takes for their entry-level characteristics to be replaced by consistent and effective clinical judgement. Currently, according to Williams, there is no standard amount of time that entry-level nurses should remain practicing beside a seasoned nurse.

The study found that out of the 200 nurses surveyed, 74% of them stated that it takes about 12 months to be ready to practice autonomously without relying on a more experience nurse for guidance.

"It takes a nurse that’s new to practice up to about 12 months of engaging in nursing practice where they are deferring to a more seasoned colleague to receive supportive help until they are then able to practice more autonomously," Williams said.

According to Williams, there are several qualities that make a practice-ready nurse. While new graduate nurses will have the knowledge to begin practicing, there seems to be a disconnect between knowing the information and processing it to consistently make an effective decision.

"One of the key variables that we found is that in order to really support that area of what we call 'practice readiness' [a nurse needs] the ability to effectively engage in clinical judgement," Williams said. "We find that clinical judgement is essentially a scaffolding for entry level nursing practice within that transition to practice period that helps support patient safety."

Why practice readiness matters

For CNOs, exploring resources during the 12-month period as a way to ensure practice readiness among nurses is essential, Williams explained.

"In other professions, there is a defined, supervised practice period where a novice physician or advanced practice provider would practice under a more seasoned physician," Williams said. "In nursing, we do have that paradigm, but there's no defined period on when it should end."

According to Williams, it's important to define that time period so CNOs can better understand and assess the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are required for an entry-level nurse to practice safely.

"I think one of the things that is universally of interest for our practice partners and CNOs to consider is how long that entry-level period lasts because that's the amount of time that a newly licensed nurse will need additional supporting resources," Williams said.

Williams recommends that CNOs focus on transition to practice resources to ensure that new nurses enter and remain in the workforce feeling confident and ready to do their jobs. Providing a hybrid between a curriculum and supportive practice on the units with a preceptor can be a great resource for nurses, along with mentors and coaches, Williams explained.

"It really helps the entry level nurse become more well acclimated as they're beginning to gain those clinical experiences," Williams said. "The entry level nurse is quite different from another nurse who has been in practice a bit longer, and they're going to need supportive care within the transition to practice."