"Workplace Readiness of New ICU Nurses: Perceptions of Managers, Educators, Preceptors, and New Graduates", LaToya Lewis-Pierre, Ed.D-CI, MSN, RN, PI

The purpose of this qualitative grounded-theory study was to generate a theory to explain workplace readiness and needs of new graduates entering the intensive care unit (ICU) from the viewpoint of managers, clinical educators, preceptors, and new registered nurses (RN) graduates.


The study involved 24 nurses including five managers, 4 educators, 8 preceptors, and 7 new graduates. Competencies and skills required for new graduates to enter the ICU were identified. The following four themes emerged: a) embracing the new ICU role, b) overwhelming experience of performance ambiguity or anxiety, c) adapting to the ICU, and d) embodying the new ICU RN role. The results of this study indicate that new ICU RN’s have limited exposure to the ICU and the inclusion of the novice nurse embracing the ICU theory (NNEIT) could enhance the new nurses’ transition into the ICU. The novice nurse embracing the ICU theory (NNEIT) will provide guidance in resolving the discourse of the competencies and skills for new nurses entering the ICU. One manuscript has been published in the Global Journal of Human Social Sciences.