Practising Teachers: A Means of Lessening the Cognitive Dissonance of the Neophyte

Abstract

New graduates of nursing suffer cognitive dissonance in the work situation. Much has been written about the conflict which develops in the neophyte nurse when she is employed to give nursing care according to the dictates of the hiring institution, rather than the idealistic nursing care she was taught to give. Kramer has studied this phenomenon extensively and reported the findings in her book Reality Shock (1974). A question comes immediately to mind: why are these two kinds of nursing care so disparate? One of the leading theories is that the goal system in health care institutions favours a bureaucratic structure. (Dilworth, 1963; Geor-gopolis, 1966). Bureaucratic organizations tend to favor a rigid rule system. Statements made by the diarists in Kramer's study (1974:32) validate the bureaucratic vs. professional value system conflicts in the neophyte nurse. One would hope that a problem area so well documented for such a long time would have reached some degree of resolution. Perhaps all facets of the problem area have not been thoroughly explored.