EXPLORING RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CAREER ADAPTABILITY, WORK ENGAGEMENT, AND CAREER INTENTIONS OF NEW GRADUATE NURSES

Abstract

The nursing workforce is changing, and the clinical practice environment may need to change with it. Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1999, now make up the largest generational cohort in nursing (Hutchinson, Brown, & Longworth, 2012). Despite testing diverse interventions, such as preceptorships and nurse residency programs, new graduate nurse transition to the clinical practice environment remains difficult (Barnett, Minnick, & Norman, 2014). Hospitals have enhanced practice environments and modified leader behaviors, yet new graduate nurse retention remains a concern (Barnett et al., 2014; Cowden, Cummings, Profeto-McGrath, 2011). The changing workforce requires a reconceptualization of positive new graduate nurse outcomes such that turnover and keeping the nurse at the bedside in a direct patient care role is no longer the primary focus. In addition, studies on new graduate nurse turnover must look beyond the first year of employment (Van Camp & Chappy, 2017). Career adaptability, the new graduate nurse’s ability to cope with tasks, transitions, and traumas in their staff nurse role, may be a new and needed framework for promoting positive transition outcomes for both the nurse and the hospital (Savickas, 2013).