The Lived Experience of New Graduate Nurses Working in an Acute Care Setting

The high attrition rate of graduate nurses will exacerbate the current nursing shortage as Baby Boomer nurses (born between 1946 and 1964) retire, negatively affecting the quality of patient care and increasing employer costs. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of new graduate nurses employed in an acute care setting in southwest Florida. This information provides further guidance to nurse educators as they develop curricula, support graduate nurses to transition into professional practice, and create strategies to increase retention. Ten participants who were traditional students in generic baccalaureate nursing programs, selected through purposeful and snowball sampling, were interviewed via open-ended questions. Using Colaizzi's classic phenomenological method of data analysis and NVivo 10 software, three overarching themes emerged-knowledge, skills, and environment-which were interpreted in relation to graduates' lived experience. Recommendations include implementation of innovative initiatives that address new graduates' experience and increase retention.