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Intensive care as a specialty of choice for registered nurses : A descriptive phenomenological study
Saghafi, Farida Hardy, Jenni Leigh, Maria Cynthia Hillege, Sharon
Saghafi, Farida
Hardy, Jenni
Leigh, Maria Cynthia
Hillege, Sharon
Abstract
Background
Shortage and retention of experienced nurses are crucial matters and internationally acknowledged, particularly in specialty areas such as Critical Care.
Aim
To explore the experiences of registered nurses in their first and fourth years of practice in an adult intensive care unit.
Study Design
This descriptive phenomenological study was conducted over 4 years. Eligible participants were interviewed at two different points in their career. Ten registered nurses were interviewed after three to 6 months of employment in an adult intensive care unit (Phase One). Five of the same participants were interviewed in their fourth year of practice (Phase Two).
Findings
Findings related to factors influencing the participants' choice of specialty and their retention are reported in this paper. Two themes emerged from Phase One: a unique environment, positive and negative emotions, unclear expectations, and the journey of a registered nurse. Two themes generated from data collected in Phase Two included a unique environment and being a proficient nurse. In both phases, nurses considered the Intensive Care Unit a stimulating learning environment.
Conclusions
This paper highlights that the registered nurse's perception of the Intensive Care Unit and Intensive Care Nursing influenced their choice of specialty, and learning opportunities influenced their decision to remain in the Intensive Care Unit.
Relevance to Clinical Practice
The findings of this study inform action areas for healthcare organizations and nursing managers. Challenges, learning opportunities and the nature of critical care nursing should be considered target areas for organizations to promote and develop as part of critical care nurses' retention strategies. Education not only for new graduate nurses but also for all registered nurses should be ongoing.
Keywords
intensive care unit, new graduate nurse, nurses, retention, specialty choice
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Nursing in Critical Care
Book
Volume
29
Issue
3
Page Range
536-544
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2023 The Authors. Nursing in Critical Care published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Association of Critical Care Nurses.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.