Nurses are critical to the success of any healthcare system and Australian trained nurses are much in demand all over the world. At undergraduate level, the Bachelor of Nursing is a three-year professional degree that will qualify you as a General Registered Nurse. As this term suggests, the focus is on producing graduates with a strong academic and practical ability in all areas of nursing. If you wish to specialise in a particular area – for example paediatric, mental health, oncology or emergency nursing – you would do so at postgraduate level.
This approach ensures that nursing graduates have a huge number of options open to them after they finish studying, and are able to decide whether they want to focus on one area at a later stage (often after having worked and gained real-world professional experience) rather than being restricted in their career by only being trained in one area of nursing.
Alternative courses are available for students who would prefer to study to diploma rather than degree level. Please contact a Smart Choice education consultant to find out more about Diploma of Nursing courses.
There are also professional conversion courses available for people who have already qualified as a nurse outside Australia or New Zealand, as well as graduate entry nursing programs aimed at those who already hold a Bachelors degree in a different subject who wish to retrain and qualify as nurses. This course is usually called the Master of Nursing Practice, and it is offered at several Australian universities including Monash University in Melbourne.
Postgraduate nursing programs in Australia offer already-qualified nursing professionals the opportunity to specialise or further develop their skills in a particular area. Master of Nursing courses offer specialisms including paediatrics, critical care, nursing education, emergency nursing, disaster and emergency management, aged care, advanced medical and surgical, mental health, palliative care, and nursing management. They are aimed at nurses looking to take their careers to the next level.
