Reality shock revisited: new graduate nurses’ experiences of entering the labour market

Abstract

Reality shock is used as a term for professional graduates’ first, challenging encounter with the labour market. The concept was originally developed in the USA but is also used in a Nordic context. Based on a long-standing research project on nursing students’ learning in clinical practice and new graduate nurses’ entry into the labour market, this article delves into the experiences of new graduate nurses and analyses these considering the concept of practice shock. We ask about the new graduates’ experiences of the encounter with practice and analyse how these correspond with the idea of a reality shock. The article reveals that it is somewhat misleading to label the new graduates’ entry into the labor market as a reality shock . Hence, the article highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of the challenges experienced during the transition from education to working life. These challenges include feelings of loneliness in the workplace and a lack of support due to high staff turnover – including the experience of work as lonely, lack of support due to high staff turnover. Furthermore, the article demonstrates how (incipient) decisions to leave the profession often can be traced back to practice experiences during clinical placement. Thus, the article contributes with initial reflections towards the development of a new learning-theoretical, context-sensitive, de-individualized conceptualization of the dynamics at play when a newly trained professional enters or exits the welfare professional labor market.