Insufficiently supported in handling responsibility and demands: Findings from a qualitative study of newly graduated nurses

Anna Willman, Kaisa Bjuresäter and Jan Nilsson

Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2021, vol. 30, issue 1-2, 83-92

Abstract: Aims and objectives To explore newly graduated registered nurses' experiences and how they manage complex patient situations. Background Newly graduated registered nurses' working in acute care hospital settings are challenged by managing complex patient situations in rapidly changing clinical contexts involving increased patient acuity, comorbidities and staffing shortages. Design Qualitative study design. Methods Data were collected using focus groups interviews of a total of 16 newly graduated registered nurses with clinical work experience of 6 months of direct patient care in an acute care hospital setting. Analyses were conducted using qualitative content analysis. COREQ reporting guidelines were used. Results The analysis resulted in the overarching theme “Not being sufficiently prepared and supported to meet responsibilities and demands.” The theme included three categories: “Responsibility is not in proportion to competence,” “Lack of medical competence and experience complicates patient safety” and “Strives for control to manage and organise nursing care.” Conclusion The results show that newly graduated registered nurses' are not sufficiently supported for the level of responsibility and the demands placed on them when providing nursing in complex patient situations in acute care hospital settings. If they are given sole responsibility for multiple complex patient situations, patient safety may be compromised. Relevance to practice Special attention need to be paid to NGRNs support to medical competence in the areas of assessing, planning, prioritizing, leading, and distributing nursing care in daily clinical settings for at least their first year of professional work.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15483

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:30:y:2021:i:1-2:p:83-92

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Clinical Nursing from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().