A total of 70 new graduate nurses have been added to the nursing strength of Canberra Health Services (CHS).
The 56 Registered Nurses and 14 Enrolled Nurses have begun a 12-month program, which will see them working across Paediatrics, Aged Care, Community Care, Rehabilitation, Mental Health, Oncology, Critical Care and Medical/Surgical wards.
The graduates will work alongside other nurses, doctors and allied health practitioners with each graduate supported by the CHS Transition to Practice Program with training, supervision and mentoring.
An additional graduate nurse intake is planned for August this year, bringing a total of more than 140 new nurses into the system during 2019.
In a statement, CHS said the Enrolled Nurse Transition to Practice Program (ENTPP) was well established and highly successful.
“The ENTPP aims to provide newly graduated Enrolled Nurses with the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge and skills, and develop clinical competence,” CHS said.
“The ENTPP aims to provide a structured framework to support the enrolled nurse with transition into the acute care environment.”
CHS said the Transition to Practice Program for Registered Nurses, also well established and successful, sought to provide opportunities for the newly graduated nurses to practice their recently obtained knowledge and skills, thus increasing their clinical competence and establishing them as professional Registered Nurses.
