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Attachment 6.1 - State and Territory Government nursing initiativesOverview of some State and Territory health department initiativesThe following does not report on all that is happening for the nursing profession in the States and Territories. However, this overview of the various State and Territory health department initiatives provides an indication of the range and diversity of nursing strategies currently in place in Australia. Information on the State and Territory projects related to the role of ‘nurse practitioner’ is at Attachment 2.4 Queensland HealthThe 1999 Final Report. Ministerial Taskforce on Recruitment and Retention (Queensland Health, 1999) made recommendations on a number of strategies to deal with nursing workforce issues. Since that time, Queensland Health has been working towards the implementation of recommendations from that report including establishment of a nursing career advisory service and various education programs, development of transition support processes for new nursing graduates, and trialing of alternative rostering practices. In December 2001 the Minister for Health launched the ‘Think Nursing’ internet site at www.thinknursing.com. This site provides online information on a range of topics related to nursing in Queensland, including a database of employment opportunities available for nurses. The site is geared to recruitment and has specific information sections for school students, Indigenous students, university and TAFE undergraduates, registered and enrolled nurses, and career advisors and work experience coordinators for further education and career pathways. It also has vignettes on ‘a day in the life’ of particular nurses. Queensland Health also provides support for nursing education and re-entry programs. The Queensland Health Nursing Re-entry Assistance Scheme (QHNRAS) has been developed to help nurses re-enter the Queensland Health workforce following periods of absence. The scheme provides for the employment of QHNRAS candidates in Queensland Health facilities while they undertake re-entry requirements with the Competence Assessment Service. The Queensland Health Rural Scholarship Scheme also provides support to all students, with a commitment to health provision in rural and remote Australia. Scholarships for nursing and indigenous nursing undergraduate students include components for living allowance, academic fees and an annual travel allowance. NSW HealthNSW Health, in partnership with the NSW Nurses’ Association, nursing organisations, health services and the nursing education sector has progressed a range of initiatives and strategies aimed at increased recruitment and retention of nurses in New South Wales. A small selection of these include:
The NSW Ministerial Standing Committee on the Nursing Workforce (MSC) was established in early 2000. An Action Plan was developed in September 2001, which presents a range of strategies to create a supportive environment for nurses and consumers in New South Wales. Some of the issues being considered are (but not limited to) the prevention and management of violence in the workplace, child care issues concerning all health workers, research about workload within the workforce, and a range of factors affecting recruitment and retention. The Committee established the NSW Health’s Reconnect Program, which funds general registered nurse, enrolled nurse, and midwifery refresher courses to facilitate re-entry into the nursing workforce for those who have not worked in nursing for a number of years (NSW Health 2002). The department allocates funds to the Office of the Chief Nursing Officer (OCNO) for a range of support initiatives for nursing. NSW Health has a comprehensive website, ‘Nursing Info’, at www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing. The office is involved in a number of projects, including the Nurse Practitioner Project, Nursing Workforce Modelling, Mental Health Projects, and the NSW Rural and Remote Aboriginal Nursing Project. Other initiatives include transitional support for new general and midwifery graduates, and orientation programs for speciality clinical areas. The OCNO also negotiates an annual contract with the NSW College of Nursing for the provision of a range of postgraduate certificate courses for registered nurses and speciality continuing education programs for enrolled nurses. At the Area Health Service level there are a number of educational strategies in place for nursing including preceptor and mentoring programs, speciality skills development programs, mental health programs, local refresher programs, continuing education programs, and programs in partnership with either the tertiary sector or the NSW College of Nursing (NSW Health 2001c). Further, NSW Health supports the NSW Nursing Scholarship Fund to assist in the recruitment and retention of nurses in rural and remote areas of New South Wales. Subject to budget approval each year, the fund currently provides for scholarships to first year undergraduate nursing students with a rural background; rural placement grants to undergraduate nursing students with a rural or urban background studying at a New South Wales or approved university who undertake a clinical placement in a rural or remote area of New South Wales, and postgraduate scholarships to registered nurses employed in the New South Wales public health system who undertake study in a nursing course at a New South Wales or approved university. Health Department of Western AustraliaThe Health Department of Western Australia has a web page ‘Nursing in WA’ at www.nursing.health.wa.gov.au/nvnd/index.cfm. This site provides useful links for information on projects, scholarships/funding, and on the department’s recent study on nursing and midwifery in Western Australia, New Vision, New Direction (Health Department of Western Australia 2001). This study addressed five key focus areas: workforce issues, professional standards, education, professional practice and leadership. It presented a series of recommendations to be implemented in a coordinated approach between all key stakeholders, and these are now being progressed by the department. Linked to the ‘Nursing in WA’ page is ‘Nurse-Link’ www.nursing.health.wa.gov.au/reentry/index.cfm, funded by the department to provide professional advice and support to nurses to return to the government health industry nursing profession. ‘Nurse-Link’ offers nurses contact with a nurse recruitment specialist who will provide advice, support and information (to suit each nurse’s personal requirements) on re-fresher and renewal of registration courses, contact people for courses and current employment vacancies. The department offers a range of undergraduate nursing scholarships, and also postgraduate nursing and midwifery scholarships in areas such as professional development, remote area nursing, and child health. Scholarships are also available in postgraduate mental health nursing, and for enrolled nurses to undertake professional development studies. In recent years the department has conducted a number of nursing projects in response to the needs and requests of the profession including a Homebirth Policy Review Project, Enhanced Role Midwifery, Nurse Practitioner Project, Advance Practice Nursing Working Party, and the Nurse Pap Smear Providers Credentialing Project. Also of note is the successful recruitment campaign Are You Good Enough To Be A Nurse?, which was first launched in 1999. The aim of the campaign is to challenge secondary school students’ negative perception and stereotypes of nursing and nurses and to provide a realistic and positive view of the nursing profession. The campaign targets students, career advisers and parents. South Australian Department of Human ServicesIn recent years the South Australian Department of Human Services has approved funding of a number of nursing initiatives including (but not limited to) a marketing campaign, refresher and staff development for rural and remote nursing staff, and telemedicine. Other funding support is by way of Graduate Nurse Programs at public hospitals, a Nursing Career, Employment and Education Expo, and Nursing Excellence Awards. The department provides a website on ‘Nurses in South Australia’ at www.dhs.sa.gov.au/nurselabour/. The website brings together information for nurses through links to labour force bulletins, nursing data and statistics (including nurse workforce tables), different workforce planning and information reports and fact sheets, and information on scholarships. In recent years the Office of the Chief Nurse has prepared a number of reports on nursing student intake and training requirements for aged care nursing, critical care nursing, enrolled nurse, midwifery, and undergraduate nursing courses, and the website also has a link to the department’s Nurse Practitioner Project. For information on careers in nursing, the department has also developed the Nursing Takes You Places website at www.nursingsa.com/ as part of its Nurse Marketing Campaign.Two recent initiatives developed by the South Australian Department of Human Services are for Year 10 to 12 students in metropolitan and rural secondary schools and colleges throughout South Australia. The first is the Nurses Speaking in Schools Program, where young nurses from a variety of clinical settings have been recruited and trained to speak in schools to promote nursing as a career option to secondary school students. The other program is the Nurse Job Shadowing (Work Experience) Program, a structured program developed to give students interested in a career in nursing the opportunity to experience a taste of the working life of a nurse in a healthcare setting. Department of Health and Human Services, TasmaniaThe Final report of the Tasmanian Nurse Workforce Planning Project (Department of Health and Human Services, Tasmania 2001) combines the efforts of a number of Working Groups on the project. The report examined the current nursing workforce, and current and future needs, and addressed a range of issues about nursing recruitment and retention, nursing education and regulation, and nursing data and workforce profile. The department’s Careers in Nursing website Caring Through Life is at www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/jobsandcareers/index.html. This site has information on nursing education and nursing workforce opportunities, and a link to the department’s ‘Employment Register for Nurses and Health Professionals’, which also contains information on different nurse practice settings throughout Tasmania, such as rural and remote; community and mental health; family, children and youth health; and public and environmental health. The department provides Graduate Nurse Development Programs in three acute teaching hospitals and also in primary health care settings such as community nursing, mental health and rural hospitals, in conjunction with hospital graduate programs. The department also has a strategic partnership with the University of Tasmania Faculty of Health Sciences ‘Partners in Health’ initiative. Its aim is to improve health services in Tasmania through a coordinated approach to education, research and clinical service delivery. Outcomes of this partnership include a First Line Emergency Response Program, a Development Program for Rural and Remote Midwives, a Pharmacology Package for Registered and Enrolled Nurses and University of Rural Health Teaching Sites (which provide accommodation), and telehealth facilities for undergraduate and postgraduate students undertaking clinical practice in rural areas. The department also provides scholarships of up to $3300 to cover the costs of the Re-Entry to Practice Program, which a nurse needs to complete in Tasmania if they have had a break in practice of more than five years, and would like to return to the workforce. Department of Human Services (Victoria)The Department of Human Services has a number of strategies in place to help nurses return to the workforce, including funded refresher/re-entry programs, improved nurse-patient ratios to reduce workload, scholarships for postgraduate study and study leave for Division 1 and 2 nurses. In May 2001 the Department released the Nurse Recruitment and Retention Committee – Final Report (Department of Human Services 2001). In response to this report, the Committee developed a statewide Nurse Recruitment Strategy including a $2 million advertising campaign. The broad objective of the strategy is to help nurses return to the public health system. Public facilities and the Australian College of Midwives can be offered $2100 for every nurse placed on a Nurses Board of Victoria accredited course to regain registration. Nurses completing re-entry and supervised practice programs are entitled to up to $2200 depending on the nurse’s travel requirement. By February 2002, 3300 permanent nurses had been attracted into Victoria’s public hospital system since July 2000. Also as part of the strategy, in 2001 the number of Division 2 (enrolled nurse) places in the Vocational Education and Training sector was doubled to more than 2000, and a number of scholarships have been funded for postgraduate study in critical care nursing specialisations. The Nurse Policy Branch of the Department of Human Services manages the ‘Nursing in Victoria’ website at www.nursing.vic.health.gov.au. The site disseminates information on project developments and current issues under consideration and reports on policy development. The site is intended as a resource for registered nurses and those considering either pursuing a nursing career or for former nurses wishing to rejoin the profession. The department also has a web page, ‘Victorian Hospital Employment’, to provide information on nursing vacancies, and career and skills development programs available. Under its Training and Development Grant (nursing component), the department provides funding to hospitals to recognise the additional costs of hospitals that conduct graduate nurse programs, postgraduate nurse programs, courses for student midwives, and continuing nurse education courses. The Nurse Policy Branch is also facilitating the process for review and implementation of an extended scope of practice for the Division 2 Registered Nurse following a review undertaken by the Nurses Board of Victoria, reported in Extended Scope of Practice in Medication Administration for the Division 2 Registered Nurse May 2000 (Nurses Board of Victoria 2001). Department of Health and Community Services (Northern Territory)The website for the Department of Health and Community Services in the Northern Territory includes a number of career fact sheets on enrolled nurses, registered nurses, remote area nurses (for Central Australia), and nursing educatio n and training coordinators, under its Careers and Vacancies web page. The department also provides funding for a number of Studies Assistance Grants to cover course fees (excluding HECS), conference registration fees, text books and equipment, travel costs and related accommodation.The department, in collaboration with the Australian Nursing Federation, is currently reviewing the existing career structure for nurses within the public sector in the Northern Territory. In identifying and removing barriers, the objective of the Nursing Career Structure Review is to provide nurses with opportunities for career advancement through the development of appropriate career pathways and employment arrangements. The review process is in its final stages and is on track to be finalised and ready for implementation by July 2002. It is anticipated that implementation will occur over a three to six month period. Information on the career structure can be found at www.nt.gov.au/health/org_supp/wp/ncsr.shtml. ACT Department of Health and Community CareThe ACT Department of Health and Community Care provides a number of scholarships for nurses for postgraduate studies in nursing specialties where there is an identified area of need, and for re-entry/refresher programs. Funding is available for nurses who wish either to undertake a masters degree, graduate diploma or graduate certificate course of study in a field of clinical nursing, or to undertake the re-entry Refresher Course Program at the University of Canberra. |
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