News

Health providers team up for Graduate Nursing opportunities

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 14:28:00

Mildura’s three major acute health providers are teaming up to provide new graduate training for local students, with the goal of keeping more skilled nursing professionals in the region.

Mildura Base Hospital, Sunraysia Community Health Services and Mildura Health Private Hospital have joined forces to offer the Mildura Collaborative Graduate Nurse Program commencing in February.
MBH Director of Nursing, Janet Hicks said the program will offer Graduate Nurses a 12-month, part-time (0.8 FTE) program facilitated in conjunction with the MBH Graduate Nurse Program. 
“It’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point, but it’s been fantastic to pool our efforts because we’re all committed to our long-term goal, which is to provide a bigger pool of nurses working in acute care in Mildura,” Ms Hicks said.
Led by MBH Principal Nurse Educator Michelle Byrnes and Graduate Nurse Educator Greta Reid, the three health services are delivering positions for five graduates from next month comprising:
• Two positions of 8 months at Mildura Health Private Hospital (Ward and Theatre) and 4 months at Mildura Base Hospital; and
• Three positions of 8 months at Mildura Base Hospital and 4 months at Sunraysia Community Health Services (District Nursing).
A further two positions will commence mid-year, again shared between the three health providers.
“It’s fantastic that many more students are able to study nursing locally at La Trobe University and as a result we’re getting a much bigger pool of local graduates – in fact more than we can accommodate at Mildura Base alone,” Ms Hicks said.
“Having more graduates is the first piece of the puzzle in addressing our region’s shortage of experienced nurses, so our challenge now is to keep these new graduates here and to help them develop their skills and expertise,” she said.
Sunraysia Community Health Executive Manager of Clinical Services Melissa Wade said the collaboration would provide additional opportunities for the best local students to remain in the area for their graduate nursing year.
“If graduates move away for their placements it’s often very difficult to lure them back to the district, or if they move into aged care, it’s difficult for them to move back into the acute care stream without having first cemented their clinical knowledge through a graduate program,” Ms Wade said.
“This is a long-term investment in our health workforce that provides a broad range of clinical experience for the graduates in Public, Private and Community Health, and one which we are planning to continue to grow into the future.”
Mildura Health Private Hospital Director of Clinical Services  Carla Kirby said the benefits would flow to all three health providers, and to the graduates themselves.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for graduates to consolidate theoretical and clinical skills across a range of nursing specialities here in their local area,” she said.
“It will provide them with a supportive, professional and friendly environment as they transition into employment as a Registered Nurse.”
More information is available on the Mildura Collaborative Graduate Nurse Program from:
Michelle Byrnes
Principal Nurse Educator, Mildura Base Hospital
byrnesmichelle@ramsayhealth.com.au

Pictured: L-R Carla Kirby, Janet Hicks, Michelle Byrnes and Melissa Wade