Exploring the experiences of beginning registered nurses entering the acute care setting

This study begins to explore some of the social and political issues surrounding the practices of the graduate nurse. Utilising an ethnographic methodology with a critical intent, 4 graduate nurses describe their experiences of clinical practice. The major themes raised or issues that were embedded within the nurses' stories revolved around power and control enmeshed within nursing practice. The themes discussed relate to the graduates' perception of their own competence, and the concepts of the ideal nurse, the socialisation of graduates into the ward culture, being on insider or outsider and a good or bad nurse. The resulting discussion utilises the theoretical framework of Foucault's governmentality to suggest ways in which nurses and graduates might make sense of these issues.