Authors (including presenting author) :
Liu YK(1); Chau LTC (1); Hui TPB (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Nursing Services Division, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
Introduction :
New nurse graduates face numerous challenges during the transition from graduates to registered nurses(RN)/enrolled nurses(EN). There was limited study on exploring the psychosocial aspect of the new nurse graduates. Therefore, a study was conducted to understand the stress issues and psychosocial needs of 2019 nurse graduates of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital (PYNEH).
Objectives :
(1) To comprehend the stress issues of 2019 nurse graduates in PYNEH;
(2) To explore their psychosocial needs during the transition period; and
(3) To make recommendations for supporting the new nurse graduates.
Methodology :
A mixed method design was adopted. All PYNEH new nurse graduates (n=138), who started their practice within 2-3 months, were invited to complete a questionnaire in Likert scale to collect their self-ratings on working experience and stress issues in Oct and Dec 2019. To further explore their feelings of being newly qualified nurses and their source of stress as well as their support system and stress coping methods, 14 new nurse graduates (RN/EN) were recruited on a convenient sampling for focus group interviews from 14th to 26th Nov 2019.
Result & Outcome :
133 new nurse graduates returned the questionnaires. 82% of them rated that they were under stress and 77% of them stated that job performance was the main source of stress. Whereas, 12 new nurse graduates (11 RNs and 1 ENs) were interviewed, 9 of them expressed high level of work-related stress during the first three months. All of them verbalized unpleasant emotions including “worried, nervous, afraid” which were due to heavy workload, lack of confidence in managing emergency situations; afraid of making mistakes and being isolated by colleagues. To deal with the stress, the interviewees mentioned that not only guidance provided by colleagues (n=12); sharing with peers (n=12), expression of care from colleagues (n=8) could relieve their stress, but also the relaxation exercises e.g. sports, online games, peer group outing activities. The study evidenced that the new nurse graduates experienced stress and the major source of stress was from job performance. It is recommended to organise a resilience program for enhancing their stress coping skills. Besides, a Nurse Buddies Group is suggested to form for addressing the psychosocial needs of new nurse graduates by strengthening their peer support, increasing their self-confidence and relieving stress.
