An Exploration of Potential Gaps Between the Expectations Formed in Local Nursing Programs and the Lived Work Experience of Newly Licensed Nurses

Understanding how expectations formed while in nursing school affect one's successful transition as a newly licensed nurse allows educators to identify curriculum changes to align expectations between academic and healthcare settings to improve the transition to professional nursing. A descriptive-hermeneutic phenomenological study utilized interviews, observations, and journal activities to identify variances between student nurses' expectations and the professional nurse work environment. A purposeful, criterion-based sampling of newly licensed nurses within four and 12 months of orientation identified 11 individuals to interview, observe, and gather journal entries to detail specific gaps between their expectations formed in nursing school and their lived work experience. Through coding and thematic analysis, individual experiences were developed into three themes: emotional, physical, and social variances. The nine sub-themes included feeling overwhelmed, burnout, response to death and dying, night shift, workload, time management, communication, negative work cultures, and turnover. Quoted statements provided an understanding of the gaps between the expectations formed in nursing school and the lived work experience of the study participant. Additionally, the researcher gathered recommendations for curriculum changes to provide nursing students with realistic work expectations and experiences to help the next generation transition from student to nurse. The research is founded on Duchscher’s transition shock theory and constructivism learning.