AIM: Describe novice nurses perception of what constitute acute situations.

METHOD: Qualitative descriptive design with a phenomenographic approach. Data consisted of 12 interviews of nurses with less than 1 year of working experience in acute care hospitals in south west of Sweden. The informants were encouraged to reflect and speak freely about their perceptions of acute situations. Follow-up questions were open- ended, individual and dependent upon previous answers.

RESULTS: Novice nurses perceive acute situations as something more than just a medical physical deterioration. Acute situations are also for example challenging interpersonal relations. The acute situation is surprising and happens suddenly, time is insufficient, one’s own competence is insufficient, the responsibility feels overwhelming and the organisational deficiencies surrounding the nurse become evident.

CONCLUSION: These perceptions and challenges novice nurses experience in acute situations are important to be aware of. Nurse educators should consider them in their planning of curriculums. Hospital managers should consider these perceptions in their planning of preceptor, residency or introduction programs for new nurses. Together this could be a step in the important work to bridge the education practice gap.