This study aims to assess the extent of organisational silence among new nurses, analyse how structural empowerment and role ambiguity influence this silence, and determine whether role ambiguity mediates the relationship between structural empowerment and organisational silence. The findings intend to offer practical guidance for nursing managers in supporting new nurses by minimising role ambiguity and fostering open communication during the transition into clinical practice.
New nurses commonly exhibit organisational silence during their transition process. Although research indicates that structural empowerment, role ambiguity and organisational silence are interrelated, the underlying mechanisms among these three factors remain unclear.
A cross-sectional design.
A convenience sampling approach was adopted between September 2024 and March 2025. The study recruited 680 new nurses from 15 tertiary A-level hospitals located in Guangzhou, Changsha and Hangzhou. Data collection instruments included a demographic information form, the Chinese version of the Nursing Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity Scale, the Employee Silence Behaviour Questionnaire and the Job Efficiency Conditions Scale. To examine the mediating role of role ambiguity in the relationship between structural empowerment and organisational silence, structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied.
A total of 628 new nurses participated in the survey. Structural empowerment was negatively correlated with role ambiguity (p < 0.01) and organisational silence (p < 0.01). The mediation analysis indicated that role ambiguity partially mediated the relationship between structural empowerment and organisational silence. Specifically, the mediating effect of role ambiguity was –0.14, accounting for 31.11% of the total effect.
This research indicated that new nurses exhibited a below-average level of structural empowerment, while their levels of role ambiguity and organisational silence were above average. Specifically, structural empowerment had a negative impact on both role ambiguity and organisational silence; role ambiguity positively predicted organisational silence. Furthermore, role ambiguity played a significant mediating role in the relationship between structural empowerment and organisational silence.
The findings indicate that nursing managers should not only focus on enhancing the structural empowerment of new nurses but also strengthen their role awareness, ensuring it plays a key role in reducing levels of organisational silence.
This study did not involve patients, service users, caregivers, or members of the public.
To explore how, why and under what circumstances transitional care can be normalised as a routine care practice for adult patients with enterostomy after discharge from hospitals.
Realist review.
This review was conducted in three iterative phases: (1) constructing an initial programme theory to identify the scope of the study; (2) retrieving and evaluating the evidence, extracting data and integrating the evidence; and (3) analysing and integrating the evidence to refine the programme theory.
Five bibliographic databases and the grey literature were searched from 1947 to 2024 to identify the studies of two core concepts: enterostomy and transitional care.
A total of 36 papers were included, identifying nine context-mechanism-outcome configurations that explain how, why and under what circumstances transitional care can be normalised as routine care for adult patients with enterostomy after discharge: (1) Responsibilities of individual roles; (2) Interdisciplinary team collaboration; (3) Support from upper management; (4) Communication and interaction; (5) Multiple linkage; (6) Professional training; (7) External support and policy formulation; (8) Personalised measures; and (9) Evaluation and feedback.
The normalised implementation of transitional care is essential to help enterostomal patients better adapt to stoma life and improve their quality of life. An effective transitional care model not only relies on the support of professional caregivers, but requires the close cooperation of patients, family members, communities and healthcare organisations.
Reporting was adhered to the RAMESES publication standards: realist syntheses.
Patients and members of the public were involved in study design. Their contributions were participating in advisory groups, ensuring the research was addressed.
This study provides theoretical guidance for clinical stoma transitional care, translating the research findings into routine healthcare practices, constantly optimising and improving the stoma care system, and offering patients higher-quality and more efficient services.
This research, through the realist review approach in combination with the Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), systematically elucidates for the first time how, why and under what circumstances transitional care can be regularised as a routine post-discharge care measure for adult enterostomy patients. The research findings will: Improve the quality of life of patients: Through personalised care plans and multidisciplinary team cooperation, help patients better adapt to life with an ostomy, reduce complications and improve self-management ability. Optimise clinical practice: Provide theoretical guidance for medical staff, promote the regular implementation of transitional care and improve the quality and efficiency of care. Promote education and training: Emphasise the importance of professional training and communication skills, and provide new ideas for nursing education. Support policy formulation: Call on the government and medical institutions to improve relevant policies, provide more resources and support and promote the rational allocation of medical resources.