| Core category | Category | Subcategory |
| Life after employment | Living in the area of my choice | Live in a city in which I want to live |
| Live in a town wherein I can easily go to my parents’ home | ||
| Living a work-centered life | Live in the best city for the job | |
| Live in a place with good access to work | ||
| Focus on work rather than vacations | ||
| Balancing work and personal life | Struggles to balance living alone for the first time and working life | |
| No troubles in my personal life | ||
| Working in an ideal work environment | Work in the desired job conditions and with the desired benefits | |
| Work in a hospital that is the right size and has the right functions for my needs | ||
| Busy at work, but can take vacations | ||
| Working irregular shifts | Cannot finish my work on time and stay late to work | |
| Can imagine the pattern of shifts | ||
| Work the night shift with longer hours | ||
| Physically adapting to shift work | Do a lot of night shifts | |
| No physical problems | ||
| Adaptation to work | Learning nursing skills with which I have no experience | Acquire skills in which I am inexperienced during work in a clinical setting |
| The nursing skills in which I am inexperienced are not immediately available | ||
| Concerns about nursing skills that I did not experience in a practical setting | ||
| Able to perform all nursing skills experienced during clinical practice training related to daily living assistance | ||
| Acquiring nursing skills on the job | Learn nursing skills in a supportive environment | |
| Independence is achieved step by step by having senior nurses check the skills of each individual | ||
| Learning my job under the guidance of my seniors | Preceptors provide one-on-one guidance | |
| Assigned to a patient while being accompanied by a senior nurse | ||
| Senior nurses provide gentle guidance | ||
| Senior nurses will reach out to you to provide advice | ||
| Learning job fundamentals through novice training | Participate in pre-employment training | |
| Participate in a defined novice training program | ||
| Participate in group work at different stages in the novice training | ||
| Facing the rigors of the job | May be scolded or frustrated | |
| Have a hard time with the job | ||
| Continue with work-related studies | ||
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| Persevere even when assigned to a department I don’t want to be in | May be assigned to a department other than the one I want after I get the job |
| Work hard in the department to which I am assigned, even if it is not the department of my choice | ||
| Even if I am not assigned to the department I want to work in, don’t give up and wait for the day when I will be assigned to it | ||
| Practicing nursing tasks that I did not have much experience with as a student | Experiencing nursing tasks that are not often experienced in clinical training | |
| Lots of record-keeping and paperwork | ||
| Delivering nursing care for patients with confidence | Care for patients with a variety of illnesses | |
| Feel confident in my ability to deliver nursing care for my patients | ||
| Adaptation to the workplace | Nurses working together as a team | Nurses work together and support each other as a team |
| Collaboration with other professions for the benefit of the patient | ||
| Working in a good work culture | Work in an environment with good relationships and atmosphere among staff | |
| Work with nurses who are good to their patients | ||
| Familiarizing with the nursing community | Join an established community and become a little bit more involved | |
| The place of employment is the hospital in which I performed my clinical practice, so I know it well | ||
| Be able to work well with others in the department after employment | ||
| Nurses take breaks with each other | ||
| Work in an environment where I don’t know anyone | ||
| Working with more strict senior nurses | There are some scary senior nurses | |
| Some nurses behave differently when in front of patients and when with other nurses | ||
| Being treated as a fellow nurse, not a student | Some nurses are cold to students and don’t teach them much | |
| Even nurses who are cold toward students may have different attitudes toward other nurses | ||
| Working together with fellow nurses in friendly competition | Comparing yourself to other nurses with the same level of experience | |
| Become friends with your fellow nurses | ||
| If I don’t fit in, the nursing department will be there to help me | The entire nursing department has created an environment to avoid novice nurses quitting | |
| If you do not feel comfortable in the department to which you are assigned after employment, you can transfer to a different department | ||
| Career foundation building | Going through phases and becoming independent | Stand alone in work according to your own abilities |
| The level of work will get higher and higher | ||
| Overcoming the novice period | Once you’ve learned some of the work responsibilities, you’ll be more comfortable in your daily work life | |
| Getting through the first year | ||
| Manage to do the work despite the difficulties | ||
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| Continue to be a nurse and not quit the job |
| Use the experience of frustration as a strength to get through the novice period | ||
| Spend your novice year like senior nurses did | ||
| Developing expertise in the desired area | Work in the field of my choice | |
| Working in an environment of high-level specialty care | ||
| Much knowledge and skills are acquired | ||
| Working in a high-level and demanding environment | ||
| Practice the kind of nursing I want to do | ||
| Busy department with a lot of work to do | ||
| Work in a department that suits me | ||
| Orienting one’s career while in the workplace | Work with open-minded seasoned nurses | |
| Looking at the reality of my post-employment career and considering my future career |