title: The experiences of Canadian-educated early career nurses who practise in the US.
abstract: Nurses who are early in their careers make important decisions that begin them on unique career trajectories. One of these decisions may be migration. Little is known about the experiences and career decisions made by early career nurses who were educated in Canada and are working in the United States. Focus groups were conducted with nine nurses to explore and describe their experiences. Utilizing the Learning Theory of Career Counselling as a framework, the analysis highlighted the environmental conditions and learning experiences described by the participants. Two themes were identified: early decisions and ongoing decisions. The career trajectories of these nurses were characterized by decision-making. They made decisions about becoming a nurse, where to work and in what clinical specialty. The learning experiences and environments to which they were exposed influenced their early decisions and continued to influence their ongoing decisions about returning to Canada.
authors.affiliation: Jessica Peterson, RN, PhD, Assistant Professor, Loyola University New Orleans, School of Nursing, New Orleans, LA.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Linda McGillis Hall, RN, PhD, Kathleen Russell Distinguished Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Linda McGillis
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Sheri Price, RN, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University, School of Nursing, Halifax, NS.
authors.forename: Sheri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002170:Canada / Q000208:ethnology; D002321:Career Choice; D002322:Career Mobility; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult