PURPOSE:The purpose of this study was to explore how supervisory nurses who were transferred to a long-term care hospital from an acute hospital adapted to the new work environment.

METHODS:Colaizzi's phenomenological method was applied. Participants were nine nurses working in long-term care hospitals and data were collected through in-depth individual interviews over 1 month. Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

RESULTS:From this study 12 theme clusters and 5 categories were classified. The 5 categories were; ‘Unacceptable workload’, ‘Unclear job description’, ‘Unreasonable management system of the hospital’, ‘Understanding the characteristic of the long-term care hospital’ and ‘Challenge and self-development’.

CONCLUSION:Participants experienced conflict, identity confusion and ambivalence through the relationship with nursing assistants, long-term care workers, administrative staff and the patients’ caregivers. However, they finally understood the characteristics of the long-term care hospital and were positioned as long-term care nurses.