Introduction. The socio-professional adaptation process should allow the newly employed staff member to fully commit herself in fulfilling professional duties arising from the job. Aim. The aim of this work was an attempt to evaluate the adaptation process of nursing staff employed in medical institutions. Material and methods. The research pool was formed by 170 people with no more than 3 years of seniority in healthcare institutions. A method of diagnostic survey was used in the research. The research tool was an author’s own questionnaire. Results. Time spent in training was evaluated by most of the respondents (74.6%) as difficult. Respondents have described the following negative emotions, felt during the first few weeks of employment, as occurring most often: fear of incorrect execution of duties (75.9%), anxiety and apprehension resulting from lack of knowledge (67.1%) and fear of being rejected (60.6%). Respondents’ positive evaluation of the adaptation process correlated with a very good and good valuation for individual professional adaptation areas, i. e. help and support from other employees, the ability to convey knowledge by the person providing induction and workplace atmosphere (p < 0.001). Conclusions. The positive evaluation of individual professional adaptation areas during the induction process transfers to the positive evaluation of the overall professional adaptation process as seen by the young nursing staff.

Key words: nursing staff, socio-professional adaptation.