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Park and Yi: Nurses' Experience of Career Ladder Programs in a General Hospital
Original Article
Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing

Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing 2011; 41(5): 581-592.

Published online: 31 October 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2011.41.5.581

Nurses' Experience of Career Ladder Programs in a General Hospital

Kwang-Ok Park1, Myungsun Yi2

1Assistant Professor, Department of Nusing, Sunchon National Universtiy, Sunchon, Korea.

2Professor, College of Nursing Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Park, Kwang-Ok. Department of Nursing, Sunchon National Universtiy, 255 Jungang-no, Suncheon 540-742, Korea. Tel: +82-61-750-3881, Fax: +82-61-750-3880, kopark@sunchon.ac.kr

Received 17 December 2010       Accepted 24 October 2011

© 2011 Korean Society of Nursing Science

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe nurses' experience of a career ladder program (CLP) in a general hospital in Korea.

Methods

The data were collected from 15 nurses who participated in the CLP. Each nurse completed individual in-depth interviews, for which the main interview question was "How do you describe your experience of CLP?". All interview data were transcribed and were analyzed using the grounded theory method.

Results

The core category of the experience of CLP was identified as "challenging to rebirth as an expert". The participants used five action/interaction strategies such as "taking some time for introspection", "appreciating the essence of nursing", "making use of feedback positively", "throwing away doubts about their own capabilities", "exerting themselves with confidence". The consequence of the process of adjusting to CLP was "positioning a differentiated expert."

Conclusion

The results of this study show that participants recognized CLP as a powerful resource which leads them to professional growth and development. Thus, CLP could be utilized as a clinical career-promoting program and ultimately as a program for providing high-quality nursing services.

Keywords: Career mobility, Nursing staff, Qualitative-research

Figures and Tables

Figure 1
Nurse' experiences of participating a career ladder program.
jkan-41-581-g001
Table 1
Roles and Required Education at Each Level of the CLP and Portfolios for Clinical Advancement
jkan-41-581-i001

*Clinical nurse; †Intensive care unit; ‡Operating room.

Notes

This study was supported by Korean Academy of Qualitative Research of Nursing (KAQRN).

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