The Process in Which Newly Graduated Nurses Find Ways to Cope with Difficulties at Work: Analysis of Their Interview 3 Years After Employment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the process in which newly graduated nurses find ways to cope with difficulties at work. We performed semi-structured interviews with 8 nurses all on their third year of work after graduating, and we focused on their difficulties and how they dealt with them, and then analyzed the contents of the interviews using a modified grounded theory approach. From the results, we generated 28 concepts and placed them into the following six categories that we derived as processes in which inexperienced nurses found ways to cope with their difficulties: [Making an effort to continue working at their current workplace, even though they feel they cannot cope with first-time encountered things very well] [Due to anxiety that they cannot do their job correctly, they diligently attempt to learn how to do the job well] [Understanding their responsibilities as a nurse from a system of support, while adjusting to the aptitude required for nursing] [Noticing their own changes while they continue with their quest for perfection] [Although they worry about new difficulties that start to appear as they gain more and more experience, they take one step] and [thinking about leaving their job].

These 6 categories included distinctive difficulties and ways to deal with those difficulties that the nurses experienced during between their first and third years on the job. They were regarded as processes for moving forward while finding out the best method for managing themselves, according to their daily situations. This process should be considered as a form of resilience that is held by nurses, and support for inexperienced nurses to acquire this resilience was suggested as one way of support for occupational continuation.