Stresses and challenges for new graduates in hospitals

As new graduates enter the workplace, they are faced with many stresses associated with beginning practice. The nurse manager, preceptor, and nursing staff need to be aware of the specific stresses and challenges experienced by new graduates during their orientation period and need to plan interventions for coping with them. What stresses and challenges do new graduates face in clinical practice? To answer this question, 46 new graduates completed the Clinical Stress Questionnaire on which they rated their degree of stress and challenge in clinical practice and the extent they experienced 20 different emotions while learning to care for patients on the unit. They also described what was stressful and challenging for them. This article presents the results of this survey and guidelines for mentoring new graduates during the orientation period.