Deciding if homecare is right for me : the experience of the new graduate nurse

The experiences of new graduate nurses who begin their careers in homecare are not well understood. As such, the purpose of the study was to understand the meaning of new graduate nurses employment in home health care in relation to their decision to remain in or leave homecare nursing practice. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used with the goal of understanding the new graduate nurses’ experiences. Eight new graduate nurses who began their careers in homecare participated in this study. Through data analysis, the overarching theme Deciding if homecare is right for me emerged. The meanings of the participants’ experiences are further understood through the three essential themes (a) Do I have what it takes? (b) It’s therelationships that count, and (c) It’s not what I expected. Several recommendations stemming for these study findings are presented as they relate to nursing education, practice, policy, and research.