Setting your Goals!
Once you have a vision, a mission, and values, you need to determine how you are going to achieve it. SMART goals are commonly used in health care.
Specific - What exactly am I trying to achieve?
Measurable - How will I know when I have achieved the goal?
Achievable - Can I overcome the barriers to getting it done? Will I have enough time? Do I have the support and resources I need? Do I have access to the means of doing it?
Relevant - How will this improve my performance? Is it relevant to my vision or mission?
Timely - When should I have this done by, and how long will it take?
Example - By the end of January I intend to learn about wound dressings so that I am able to confidently choose the correct wound dressing products for a moderately exudating stage 3 pressure injury with undermining (specific goal and measurable outcome). With my present level of knowledge this should only involve between 1 and 5 hours of CPD (achievable within the timeframe). This learning will enable me to take a leading role in treating pressure injuries in my clients (relevant to my job). As I am in a remote area of Australia with limited resources, I shall use the internet and the education providers I am registered with to find the learning materials that I need (achievable as I have internet access and have paid subscriptions to training providers).
If you don’t have a reliable history as a big achiever, it is best not to make big goals. If your goal is big, say “Complete a Bachelor of Nursing”, It is better to break this down into many smaller goals. Each subject within the Bachelor of Nursing is a goal in itself, and each activity within the subject is a goal. So a Bachelor of Nursing is many hundreds of individual goals. If for whatever reason we have to withdraw from university, it is really important that we have defined these smaller goals and celebrated those that we have achieved. We may come back to it at a later stage, and we can use what we have achieved to help our clients with better outcomes. We can be a university drop-out and be successful in our job, but we need to define what we have achieved in the process.
Go to the next level!
Whatever your present role, there is always another level to achieve which you will find fulfilling, exciting, and rewarding.
In Australia, tertiary education at all levels is not free for most people, but you can delay payment of the course cost until you are earning more money. Both TAFE and University fees can be sent through to the Commonwealth Government to be paid back through the Australian Tax Office. This is to ensure every Australian has access to the training needed to build professional skills with minimal financial hardship. If you are earning under $52,000 per year, you don’t repay any of your loan.
Can I afford it?
On-Campus or On-Line?
Online learning sounds great and has worked for many thousands of nurses across Australia. It can be more difficult though, especially if your English and your academic skills are not great. In rural and remote Australia you won’t have much of a choice, and if you have children or other commitments you may find campus based learning to be too difficult.
Most regional universities have developed online learning options as a way of increasing student numbers. It would pay to start close to home and work outward. There are a number of important questions that you need to ask though, before you enroll.
Where are the clinical placements offered?
Can I make it to the on-campus sessions?
A Diploma of Nursing requires 10 weeks of unpaid clinical placements over 2 years. A Bachelor of Nursing could require up to twelve weeks of clinical placements in just one year. If you have to travel long distances, find accommodation, while continuing to earn money, look after family, and study, then this may be too difficult.
Which College?
AHPRA - Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. AHPRA determine who can become registered as a Health Practitioner such as a nurse or a midwife, among others.
Use the AHPRA course finder to discover where you can study to be a nurse or other regulated health professional. This is a complete list of ALL education providers that AHPRA have approved to deliver training. If you are going with a training provider that is not on list list, you may have difficulty becoming registered.
AHPRA Approved Programs of Study
Using this search tool, you first select which profession you wish to be qualified for. You can then narrow down to which country you wish to study in, which state if in Australia, what state you need to attend the on-campus component. (hint - start with the state you are currently living in!)
You can leave the course type blank, then select “General” as the qualification type, and finally choose whether you wish to be an Enrolled Nurse or Registered Nurse in the Division box.
Look at the locations of training. This is where your on-campus component will be. Make sure you can make it to these locations and that you can find affordable accommodation if needed. These locations may also determine where placements are provided, check with the institution before you enroll and tell them what difficulties you may face. You’d be surprised how helpful some course coordinators can become in order to get enrollments!
AHPRA Course Finder
All nurses must satisfy AHPRA that they have an appropriate level of English skills before they can become registered. AHPRA may require an English language test when you apply for registration if you cannot prove 5 years of formal education that was provided and assessed only in English.
If this requirement may be difficult for you, obtain a Certificate III and find work in aged care while you continue studying and working on your English skills. If you cannot prove 5 years of formal education assessed solely in English then you will need to sit the English language test. This is not an easy test, so you will need to be constantly working on your English skills and get assistance from an organisation that can help you with English coaching.
English Skills
Diploma of Nursing
If you want to be a nurse, there is nothing wrong with completing a Diploma of Nursing to become an Enrolled Nurse (EN). There are many thousands of Registered Nurses (RN’s) in Australia who started their career as an EN, and completed their Bachelor of Nursing while working as an EN. Before embarking on a Diploma of Nursing though, just consider the job market in the location that you are intending to live in. Some employers don’t employ EN’s, favouring the cheaper graduate RN’s for the clinical role that EN’s once dominated. Ask around what the job opportunities are. It would be a shame to spend two years working towards a qualification that doesn’t then get you a job.
18 months full time, part time options available;
TAFE training - academic demands are less than for a Bachelor degree;
Total of 10 weeks of unpaid clinical placements over the course;
Enrolled Nurses are 5 routes medication endorsed, meaning that they are deemed competent at administering medications through most of the common routes including into veins, muscle, and subcutaneous.
Becoming an EN can lead to greater responsibility and working to a higher level, management and senior leadership positions, but all EN’s must be supervised by a Registered Nurse. In some facilities, this supervision may be through an off-site, on-call nurse.
There are limited options for distance education with the Diploma of Nursing. Some are listed below.
Bachelor of Nursing
The Bachelor of Nursing is a three year degree pathway to becoming a Registered Nurse (RN). Any nurse intending to develop a career in health care leadership, health care management, or clinical specialisation really needs to complete a Bachelor of Nursing in their career progression.
Most Universities offer a shorter pathway for EN’s with a Diploma of Nursing. Some are as little as eighteen months, but most courses will still spread over two to three years. Most universities offer distance education options with a one week per semester on-campus time to meet AHPRA requirements of face to face workshops.
The field of Bachelor of Nursing courses is massive. Ask around in your community what others are doing. Off-campus learning, whilst common these days, is still a challenge for students who are not seasoned academics. Being able to connect with people close to you who are traveling the same path, or have recently traveled the path, can help you to succeed. Stress and anxiety can build up not only from the intense learning tasks, but from learning to navigate the university processes, learning the process of academic research and writing, and working out what is and isn’t possible with nursing placements.
For an undergraduate student, obtaining a Bachelor of Nursing might seem like the end goal. The bachelor of nursing though is only the first major step in a career as a leader, manager, and clinical specialist!
Recruitment into senior nursing roles such as Unit Manager, Clinical Manager, or Nurse Practitioner will require the candidates to have undertaken or be undertaking post graduate qualifications relative to the role that the candidate is applying for.
It can be just as difficult choosing a university to undertake your post graduate study as for the Bachelor degree. The complicating factor is choosing the post graduate qualification to aim for. Good luck!