ABSTRACT
As nurse graduates, the first year in the health workforce will involve a major transition from being a student to taking on the responsibilities of a Registered Nurse (RN). During transition, each graduate will experience different issues that may be challenging on a personal level—for example, learning how to manage fatigue on a rotating shift roster, and developing time-management skills on a busy ward. Historically, nurse employers have frequently complained that new graduates are inadequately prepared for clinical practice, with many institutions having an un realistic expectation that a new graduate can ‘hit the ground running’ at the practice level of a seasoned RN. It is important for you to develop a positive professional identity. Nurses experiencing shift patterns inclusive of night shifts commonly achieve less than the recommended hours of sleep per day, with midwives in one study routinely sleeping an average of just 6 hours.
