Transforming McLeod Hall - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

Lauren Starkey had to make
a few changes before finding
just the right fit as an acute care
pediatrics nurse.
First Year Out:
Surviving the Transition from Student to Nursing Professional
By Linda J. Kobert
or Lauren Starkey (BSN ’09), the first few weeks
after nursing graduation were a blur. After the whirlwind of
celebrations, the transition from student life to the real world
was full of changes: moving back home to live with her parents,
starting her first job as a graduate nurse, working on a neurology/
telemetry unit at a private hospital, and studying for and taking
the National Council Licensure Exam.
About a month into her new job, Starkey became worried
that something was wrong.
“It was so different,” she recalls. “When I was in nursing
school, I really enjoyed learning. But when I started working on
the unit, I would get strong feelings of anxiety. Things were very
chaotic and fast paced. There wasn’t enough time to get things
done, and the patient population on the unit was difficult for me.”
Starkey’s experience is not unique. The first year out of
nursing school can be extremely challenging, according to Amy
Chenoweth (BSN ’95), UVA Hospital’s manager of new graduate
programs. “I think most new grads expect to be able to come in
and hit the ground running and be able to do everything that
a nurse does. They are surprised when that is not possible. For
many, this can be their first professional experience ever, so there
is a lot of learning that goes along with that.”
During her first weeks on the neurology unit, Starkey did not
have a consistent preceptor, so there was no specific person to
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