J Korean Acad Nurs.  2011 Oct;41(5):581-592. 10.4040/jkan.2011.41.5.581.

Nurses' Experience of Career Ladder Programs in a General Hospital

• Park KO
• Yi M

• KMID: 1031097
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2011.41.5.581

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify and describe nurses' experience of a career ladder program (CLP) in a general hospital in Korea.
METHODS
The data were collected from 15 nurses who participated in the CLP. Each nurse completed individual in-depth interviews, for which the main interview question was "How do you describe your experience of CLP?". All interview data were transcribed and were analyzed using the grounded theory method.
RESULTS
The core category of the experience of CLP was identified as "challenging to rebirth as an expert". The participants used five action/interaction strategies such as "taking some time for introspection", "appreciating the essence of nursing", "making use of feedback positively", "throwing away doubts about their own capabilities", "exerting themselves with confidence". The consequence of the process of adjusting to CLP was "positioning a differentiated expert."
CONCLUSION
The results of this study show that participants recognized CLP as a powerful resource which leads them to professional growth and development. Thus, CLP could be utilized as a clinical career-promoting program and ultimately as a program for providing high-quality nursing services.

Keyword

Career mobility; Nursing staff; Qualitative-research

MeSH Terms

Adult
*Career Mobility
Female
Hospitals, General
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Nursing Staff, Hospital/*psychology
Program Evaluation

Figure

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  Figure 1 Nurse' experiences of participating a career ladder program.

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