Newly graduated nurses' orientation experiences: A systematic review of qualitative studies

Objective: This systematic review describes the experiences of the orientation into nursing of newly graduated nurses.

Design: Systematic review.

Methods: Data was collected from five databases: Medic, EBSCO Cinahl, Scopus, PsycARTICLES and ERIC (ProQuest). Qualitative, peer reviewed, original studies published in English, Swedish or Finnish before February 2016 and exploring newly graduated nurses' experiences of the nursing orientation process were included. The studies were selected by screening titles, abstracts and full texts and the quality of the studies was assessed by two researchers independently. Data was analysed using content analysis.

Results: Thirteen studies were chosen for the review. Newly graduated nurses' orientation experiences were divided into four main categories: experiences related to orientation arrangements; experiences related to the preceptor; experiencing role transition during the orientation and suggestions for changes based on orientation experiences. The findings establish that the orientation and the preceptor have a great impact on how newly graduated nurses experience the start of their career. Often, newly graduated nurses wish to continue their relationship with their preceptor after the orientation period.

Conclusions: Results bring together both the positive and negative aspects that newly graduated nurses relate as regards their current orientation programmes. Attention needs to be paid to the variation and imbalance in the quality of orientation programmes and preceptors. A more formal form of mentorship needs to be developed further.