The transition experience of new graduate Registered Nurses (RNs) is described as complex, negative, and leading to dissatisfaction, and increased turnover. The first year of nursing practice is critical as new graduate RNs are seeking a supportive work environment to assist in the transition from the academic to clinical setting. During this time, many new graduate RNs leave the profession because of job stress, lack of organizational support, unreasonable workloads, uncivil work environments, and difficulty transitioning into the practice setting. This small exploratory master's thesis study explored the experiences of new graduate RNs throughout their onboarding and orientation process at a small rural community hospital in North Carolina. The purpose of this basic qualitative study, which employed Husserl and Heidegger's approach of phenomenology, was to explore the experiences of new graduate RNs during their onboarding and orientation process. Semi-structured interviews using open-ended questions were utilized to collect rich, contextual data until data saturation occurred. Open and axial coding of the data documented in a code/theme frequency table, facilitated the discovery of central themes within the data including: The need for a structured preceptorship; need for support and a mentoring program for up to a year; and need for additional classroom training on delegation, communication, and dealing with unprofessional behavior. Other themes were expectations placed on new RNs, patient load, and patient ratios. These findings will assist the small community hospital, and other organizations to identify factors that impact transition into the workplace and utilize these findings to improve the new graduate RN orientation experience and improve retention through a proposed New RN Residency Program that will meet the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accreditation standards.
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