The need for more nurses in Australia and world-wide comes as the World Health Organisation has named 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife. 

To quickly get more nurses into the health system, the Australian Government announced in March changes in how nursing graduates would be supported to help fast-track new graduates.

The good news for anyone considering becoming a nurse, is that Southern Cross University (SCU) is now taking mid year enrollments for its Bachelor of Nursing degree.

SCU School of Health and Human Sciences acting head Professor Wendy Gilleard said the degree is currently being offered online, and those studying already may be fast-tracked through the system to provide support through the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Domestic student enrolments are already quite high for the mid-year intake - and final year undergraduate nursing students may have their registration fast-tracked,” she said.

“The university has been in talks with local hospitals to prioritise clinical placement hours for third-year students to ensure they can meet registration requirements as soon as possible.

“We are supporting these students who may experience front line Covid-19 response while on their current clinical placements and during their nursing degrees, unprecedented challenging times.

“We are also in talks with the registration bodies to discuss the possibility of student nurses being supervised by teams of nurses rather than individual nurses while on placement, and also whether registered nurses working at the University may be required to join the work force to supervise students on placement – if so our team is ready to help.”

To find out more about SCU’s nursing degree, visit https://www.scu.edu.au/study-at-scu/courses/bachelor-of-nursing-3007303/

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