Newly Graduated Nurses’ Experiences of Learning to Learn at Hospitals

Abstract

〔Purpose〕The purposes of this study were to identify how newly graduated nurses in their first year of practice in hospitals acquire competencies for learning to learn and what factors facilitate the acquisition of the competencies.

〔Method〕Eleven nurses in their second year of hospital practice who could talk about their learning-related experiences in the first year of practice participated in this study. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and analyzed with a qualitative descriptive method.

〔Results〕All study participants were women aged between 22 and 25 years, with a mean age of 23.6 years. They worked at 4 hospitals. Regarding learning experiences, 23 subcategories and 9 categories emerged from the data. The categories were grouped into 3 phases：“Perplexing phase”, “Facilitating learning phase”, and “Understanding learning phase”. Regarding the related factors of learning, 11 subcategories and 6 categories emerged from the data. The categories were grouped into 2 factors：a newly-graduate nurses’ factor and an environmental factor.

〔Discussion〕Newly graduated nurses need to have a resilience to overcome the “Perplexing phase” to acquire competencies for learning to learn. They also need human relations skills to create an environment which they can learn smoothly at hospitals. Hospitals need to have approaches to facilitate organizational socialization for newly-graduated nurses.