The prevailing winds of oppression: understanding the new graduate experience in acute care.
OBJECTIVE
The experience of new graduates in acute care.


OBJECTIVE
The majority of newly graduated nurses make their initial professional role transition in acute care. Being socialized into the dynamic culture of today's hospitals creates significant challenges not only for the nurses themselves but also for institutions of higher education, healthcare administrators, and policy makers across this country. Demanding workloads for hospital nurses, an aging nursing workforce, and the high level of stress inherent in workplaces across North America are factors contributing to an exodus of both new and seasoned nurses out of acute care. This article outlines the implicit and explicit factors that may be contributing to the dissatisfaction and distress in nursing graduates entering professional practice through hospital nursing.


METHODS
CINAHL, MEDLINE, Sociolit, and PubMed.


CONCLUSIONS
Discussion is focused on the oppressive context in which hospital nursing continues to be situated and explores the ideological, structural, and relational aspects of domination that continue to surface in the work experiences of novice as well as seasoned nurses. Suggestions for addressing the issues that plague the acute care environment are integrated throughout the article, and a detailed framework of empowerment for this nursing context is offered.
Duchscher
Judy Boychuk
JB
Scholarly Projects and Programs, SIAST Nursing Division, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. judy.eldon.duchscher@shaw.ca
Myrick
Florence
F
D000208:Acute Disease / Q000451:nursing*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D019513:Feminism; D005610:Freedom; D006272:Health Facility Environment / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D033302:Postmodernism; D011209:Power, Psychological; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012930:Social Dominance; D012951:Socialization; D013850:Thinking; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology