New graduate nurses' experiences of interactions in the critical care unit

This paper reports on one of the key findings from a recent descriptive phenomenological study on lived experience of 10 new graduate nurses (NGNs) in an intensive care unit (ICU) in a major acute care hospital. Interpersonal relationships experienced by NGNs in ICU give rise to diverse thoughts, perceptions and feelings that may have significant impact on their professional development, job satisfaction and retention. The researcher conducted in-depth, semi-structured audiotaped interviews to collect the data. Interaction with others as key theme and related subthemes: interaction with patients; interaction with other members of the ICU team; who is approachable; and feedback emerged. The NGNs’ perception of their ability to interact with others, as part of their professional development, is influenced by both (i) how they see themselves and (ii) how they perceive that others see them.