Transfer of Learning of New Nursing Professionals: Exploring Patterns and the Effect of Previous Work Experience

While numerous studies have focused on the learning transfer of in-company training in past decades, relatively few have explored the transfer of knowledge from university studies to the workplace, particularly in the context of nursing. Moreover, profile variables tend to be used to describe the sample but not to explore its effect on learning transfer. This article explores the effect of previous work experience—in health—on the learning transfer factors model among new nurses during their first year of work. A total of 196 nurses with six months to one year of experience, representing various healthcare services in Catalonia, participated in this study. We administered a 53-item questionnaire based on the Model to Evaluate Transfer in Nursing Professionals. Using cluster analysis, we identified three distinct groups: Cluster #1 (Academically unprepared with low self-competence), Cluster #2 (Academically unprepared but moderately self-competent), and Cluster #3 (Highly academically prepared and highly self-competent). Nurses in Cluster #3 exhibited a higher degree of learning transfer. However, we also found an interaction between previous work experience and learning transfer. To analyse these interactions, we applied non-traditional analysis techniques, including network analysis, which revealed significant differences between the models with and without work experience. This study highlights the importance of exploring transfer beyond the traditional in-company training context and identifies previous work experiences as one of the key variables that needs to be carefully examined.