Happiness, distress, and learning: junior nurses’ experiences of a good or bad nurse

Abstract

This study explored the question ‘How do nurses experience a good or a bad nurse in their every day practice?’ Eleven Japanese nurses with 0.5 to 7.5 years of clinical experience were interviewed. They found themselves to be a good nurse when they received appreciation from patients. Themes in their good nurse experiences included nurses’ happiness and learning from self reflections on their behaviors. The nurses, however, more frequently experienced situations wherein they defined themselves as a bad nurse. Moral distress, uncertainty and regret were major factors in their bad nurse experiences with apparent underlying factors that included overwhelming workload, physician power and difficult patients. Not recognizing these factors as constraints for their good work, the nurses felt sorry for patients because of their professional immaturity and uncaring behaviors. Wish for patient’s well-being, implicit in the nurses’ narratives, contributed to their perspective of who a good or bad nurse was, however, this internal standard alone did not help nurses think through their distressing situations.