Transitional Experiences of New Graduate Nurses (Degree) within their First Year of Practice: A Study in the Eastern Region

Abstract

There are plethora of challenges that New Graduate Nurses (NGNs) are faced with as they make the journey from the role of a student into professional practice as Nursing Officers in Ghana. The study sought to explore the experiences of new graduate nurses as they make this stressful journey. A qualitative exploratory descriptive design was used for this study involving twelve new graduate nurses working for less than one year after their National Service in five (5) selected Hospitals in the Eastern Region of Ghana. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect the data. The interview was audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was done through thematic content analysis. Five (5) major themes emerged after the data analysis. These are physical experiences, emotional experiences, intellectual experiences, socio-cultural and developmental experiences, and coping strategies adopted by NGN. The first four (4) themes were in line with the Transition Conceptual Framework used as the framework for the study. The findings of the study revealed that NGNs had to deal with numerous challenges such as lack of accommodation, financial constraints, lack of resources (both human and material), stressful workload, lack of support from the hospital management. This study also shows that theory-practice gap still existed despite the changes in Ghanaian educational curriculum in recent to allow for more practice. There is the need for a collaboration between the academia and hospitals to bridge the reality shock experiences by NGNs. The hospitals must put in place measures to ease the challenges NGNs go through during their initial stage of work by providing allowances, accommodation, and the needed resources required for work.