| Core category | Category | Subcategory |
| Life after employment | Cannot physically and mentally adapt to life changes | The body did not adapt to the changes in life |
| Inability to switch between work and private life | ||
| Coming from out of state, there was a lot I didn’t know, and it was stressful | ||
| Confused by the complexity of the work shifts | After finding employment, I learned about the many forms of work | |
| Couldn’t imagine working the night shift | ||
| Became anxious about performing night shift work | ||
| Night shifts are a great burden on the body | Got sick after a night shift | |
| The night shift is physically demanding | ||
| Night shift duties are busier than expected | ||
| Unable to return home due to not being able to finish the work even after the end of the night shift | ||
| Confused by the reality of how nurses work | Couldn’t have imagined that this was how nurses work | |
| The way nurses work was different than I had imagined | ||
| Can use the free time available from shift work effectively | Happy to take weekdays off | |
| Shift work allows for a better use of your time once you get used to it | ||
| Will have more financial freedom | Will have more financial freedom | |
| Adaptation to work | Being asked to do more than I am capable of | Responsible for multiple patients |
| The job requires quick decisions | ||
| Difficult to choose what to prioritize among the multiple issues | ||
| Can’t do what I thought I could do | ||
| Always having to do more than I have time for | Always working under time pressure | |
| Work is not completed after working hours | ||
| Having to perform unexpected tasks | Have to do more than just care for the patients I take charge of | |
| Must perform clerical work related to paperwork | ||
| Have to write more records than I ever imagined | ||
| Many in-hospital training programs | ||
| Difficult to collaborate with other professions | ||
| Don’t have the time to get involved with my patients the way I’d like | Can’t deliver nursing care as substantially as I did when I was a student | |
| Can’t afford to talk to or engage with patients | ||
| Feeling the weight of responsibility as a nurse | Feel uncomfortable being called a nurse when I can’t do the nursing work | |
| Feel the weight of responsibility related to the nursing work | ||
| Adaptation to the workplace | Most people in the workplace are women, but they are easy to work with | Easy to work with the large number of women in the workplace |
| Career foundation building | Experiencing depressing days due to not being assigned to the department of choice | Experiencing depressing days because I am not assigned to the department of choice |
| Not having time to think about my future career | Don’t have time to think about my future career |