Intensivvården idag erbjuder avancerad vård till svårt sjuka människor. Den är högteknologisk, medicinskt avancerad och intellektuellt utmanande. Intensivvårdssjuksköterskans arbete innebär att ta snabba livsavgörande beslut. Handledning och mentorskap har visat sig vara av stor vikt för att skapa trygghet och yrkesmässig utveckling. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur nyutexaminerade intensivvårdssjuksköterskor upplevde sitt första yrkesverksamma år. Datainsamling genomfördes med semistrukturerade intervjuer av fem nyutexaminerade intensivvårdssjuksköterskor. Materialet analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. I resultatet framkom sju kategorier som beskrev studiens syfte. Kategorierna var Osäkerhet och nervositet, Stöd, Utveckling, Kunskaper nu och då, Arbetsklimatet, Intensivvårdssjuksköterska, en ny roll samt Intensivvården, balans mellan teknik och mänsklighet. Resultatet visade att de flesta upplevde den första tiden, att börja arbeta självständigt, som osäker och nervös. Detta trots bra inskolning och gott stöd från kollegor. Med tiden släppte den värsta nervositeten och mer trygghet infann sig. Första tiden upplevdes även som tuff med hög arbetsbelastning. Intensivvårdssjuksköterska ansågs vara ett svårt men stimulerande yrke. Att bli accepterad i arbetsgruppen hade stor betydelse för de flesta studiedeltagarna. Mentorskap kände alla till men bara en av sjuksköterskorna hade en mentor. De flesta intensivvårdssjuksköterskorna upplevde att de fått utvecklas i sitt tempo. Det fanns en genomgående längtan hos alla deltagarna efter mer erfarenhet. En gemensam upplevelse hos studiedeltagarna var en initial osäkerhet i ett tufft arbetsklimat. God handledning samt stöd från kollegor upplevdes som viktigt och önskvärt.

Intensive care today offer advanced care to people with severe illness. The care is highly technological, medical advanced and intellectual challenging. The work of the intensive care nurse involves taking quick decisions of decisive importance. Supervision and mentorship has turned out to be important for the feeling of security and professional growth. The purpose of the study was to examine how newly graduated intensive care nurses experienced their first year at work. The data were collected by semistructured interviews with five newly graduates. Analyze of the data was made using a qualitative content analysis method. The result is presented as seven categories which described the purpose of the study. The categories was Feeling of insecurity and nervousness, Support, Development, Knowledge now and then, Working climate, Intensive care nurse, a new role and Intensive care, a balance between technique and humanity. The result turned out that most of the participants experienced that the first period of time, when started working on their own, as a time being nervous and unsure. This experience occurred in spite of a period of good acclimatization and good support from colleagues. As time went by, the worst nervousness declined and the feeling of security became stronger. The first period was also experienced as tough with high workload. The profession of an intensive care nurse was considered to be complicated but stimulating. It was important to almost everyone to become accepted in the working team. All of the nurses knew about mentorship but only one had an own mentor. Almost everyone felt that they had been allowed to develop in their own pace. There was a constant longing for more experience. A common experience the participants of the study had was an initial feeling of insecurity in a tough working climate, in which good supervision and support from colleagues was experienced as important and desirable.