Other Titles

PechaKucha Presentation

Abstract

Graduate nurses are valuable to an organization because they bring a fresh outlook, enthusiasm, and dedication to providing excellent patient care. It marks a new beginning in their professional development. However, along with these new beginnings, they also face feelings of inadequacy, uncertainty, and workload pressure during the transition from student nurse to registered professional nurse (Asseiri et al., 2025). Transitioning into the workplace presents a variety of stressors for new graduate nurses, who experience both psychological well-being and distress during their first year of practice (Jarde, et al., 2021). Starting a new career can be the best of times, full of thrill and excitement, or the worst of times, filled with anxiety about being new.

New Beginnings, a well-being program, was created for newly graduated nurses. Every new graduate nurse deserves tools and resources to support their personal well-being and success in their new role. The two-hour in-person program focuses on stress versus stressors, how to break the stress cycle, and prevent burnout. Additionally, the program is interactive because each new graduate nurse receives a well-being toolkit. The primary purpose of the toolkit is to help them continue applying what they learn after the program, as that’s where it really matters once they are in the clinical environment. The goal for new graduate nurses is to feel empowered in their well-being.

A survey was conducted three to four months after the program to assess whether the new graduates were maintaining their well-being. New graduate nurses responded: N = 125, with 80.65% strongly agreed to greed that they felt empowered to focus on their personal well-being. Additionally, 78.40% strongly agreed to agreed that they had the necessary tools and resources to actively engage in their personal well-being.
As an organization, we have a responsibility to support new graduate nurses so they can succeed and continue to thrive.

Notes

Presenter notes available in attached slide deck.

Reference list included in attached slide deck.

Description

Graduate nurses bring enthusiasm, new ideas, and dedication to patient care, but they also encounter challenges like self-doubt, stress, and workload pressure when transitioning into professional practice. To support them, the New Beginnings well-being program was created. The program helps new nurses understand stress, avoid burnout, and includes a well-being toolkit to strengthen learning beyond the program.

Author Details

Adriana Rumoro, MEd, BSN, RN, NPD -BC, LSSGB, HTCP/I

Nursing Professional Development Specialist

Rush University System for Health

Sigma Membership

Gamma Phi

Type

Presentation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Other

Research Approach

Other

Keywords:

Transitional programs (Education), Nursing Practice, Well-Being, Psychological Well-Being

Conference Name

Creating Healthy Work Environments

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Washington, DC, USA

Conference Year

2026

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2026-04-27

Click above link to access the slide deck.

Share

COinS
 

New Beginnings: A Well-being Program for the New Graduate Nurse

Washington, DC, USA

Graduate nurses are valuable to an organization because they bring a fresh outlook, enthusiasm, and dedication to providing excellent patient care. It marks a new beginning in their professional development. However, along with these new beginnings, they also face feelings of inadequacy, uncertainty, and workload pressure during the transition from student nurse to registered professional nurse (Asseiri et al., 2025). Transitioning into the workplace presents a variety of stressors for new graduate nurses, who experience both psychological well-being and distress during their first year of practice (Jarde, et al., 2021). Starting a new career can be the best of times, full of thrill and excitement, or the worst of times, filled with anxiety about being new.

New Beginnings, a well-being program, was created for newly graduated nurses. Every new graduate nurse deserves tools and resources to support their personal well-being and success in their new role. The two-hour in-person program focuses on stress versus stressors, how to break the stress cycle, and prevent burnout. Additionally, the program is interactive because each new graduate nurse receives a well-being toolkit. The primary purpose of the toolkit is to help them continue applying what they learn after the program, as that’s where it really matters once they are in the clinical environment. The goal for new graduate nurses is to feel empowered in their well-being.

A survey was conducted three to four months after the program to assess whether the new graduates were maintaining their well-being. New graduate nurses responded: N = 125, with 80.65% strongly agreed to greed that they felt empowered to focus on their personal well-being. Additionally, 78.40% strongly agreed to agreed that they had the necessary tools and resources to actively engage in their personal well-being.
As an organization, we have a responsibility to support new graduate nurses so they can succeed and continue to thrive.