Background and aim of the work: The Covid-19 pandemic led to an increased demand for healthcare professionals, particularly nurses. The Piacenza Local Health Service, Northern Italy, issued several calls for tenders in order to recruit nurses and the University anticipated graduation sessions, so several new graduates nurses found themselves facing their first work experience in the middle of the pandemic emergency. It is well known that being a first-time employee causes stress, but there are few studies yet investigating the perception of newly employed nurses during the pandemic. The aim of this research is therefore to describe the experience of these nurses.
Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted through interviews. The research was approved by the 'Area Vasta Emilia Nord Ethics Committee.
Results: 14 nurses were interviewed and nine themes were found. Emotions, awareness, job opportunities, professional liability, organisational aspects and relationship with the other.
Conclusions: Our study shows how stress, anxiety and feelings of inadequacy characterise new nurses' entry into the workplace. Emotional support strategies, such as counselling and emergency preparedness training, could help early career professionals to cope with complex and emotionally charged clinical care situations with greater resilience.
Study registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05110859.