This Australian cross-sectional and longitudinal qualitative research study examines the medication safety preparedness of new nursing, pharmacy and medical graduates. It involved 26 final year students at one university in three phases between July 2019 and April 2020: pre-graduation entrance interviews, post-graduation audio interviews and long interviews after 12 weeks of work. Analysis of the interviews, audio diary transcripts, and email correspondence used team framework analysis. Participants' stories mostly showed unpreparedness, especially when developing and implementing drug therapy plans. Narratives of medication errors revealed calls or omissions by new graduates or others accompanied by negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and sadness, although positive ones also occurred. At the cohort level, the proportion of preparedness stories increased over time, but individual patterns were more complex, including stability or positive/negative changes. The study offers recommendations for educators to better prepare students and manage the emotional labor of safe medications and suggests longer LQR studies.