Graduate nurses' perceptions of a critical care nurse internship program.

Graduate nurse internship programs (NIPs) have existed for a number of years as tools for recruiting and retaining nurses. A recent literature review uncovers the rare NIP dedicated to orienting the graduate nurse to a critical care environment. Few have addressed the nurse interns' perceptions of these programs. Ongoing evaluation is vital to improving existing programs and giving credence to other hospitals with similar initiatives. A retrospective descriptive design study with the purpose of disclosing the critical care graduate nurse interns' perceptions of the critical care NIP at Elkhart General Hospital, a 330-bed community hospital in Elkhart, Indiana, provided information for this study. Patricia Benner's novice-to-expert model served as the theoretical framework. The critical care NIP questionnaire provided satisfaction scores for program components. Mean scores between groups were explored using the t test. Mean satisfaction score for the overall program was 5.62 (SD = 0.371), with a retention rate of 76.9% (20 of 26). Statistically significant differences in satisfaction scores were not found in this pilot study between nurse interns currently working in critical care and those who are not.