Just saw this thread and I’m in your home town so I can give you some local knowledge.
First and foremost though, I’d say, “DON’T DO IT!”. Nursing itself is OK as a job however there are plenty of other health sector jobs that pay better, have better career opportunities and better status with less responsibility and sometimes less education. For example, I have a degree, three post-graduate certificates and am required, as a condition of my registration with the Nurses’ Board, to demonstrate ongoing education in my chosen field. I work in management in the aged care sector with responsibility for 120 residents and their families. As well, I have responsibility for staffing issues and a portion of the multi-million dollar budget. By contrast, my cousin just completed an IT course at TAFE and got a job looking after an aged care provider’s website - and he gets paid almost as much as I do </gripe>. Yeah, so while it’ a gripe, it’s also a valid point - almost every damn profession out there is more valued than nursing. There’s also the hours to consider. While you’re young and child-free, working shift work doesn’t seem a huge imposition but when those things change, trust me, you’ll want it to be different. If you really want to be in a helping profession, why not study for something like podiatry or occupational therapy?
If I still can’t put you off, why not get a job as a personal carer to see if nursing really is your cup of tea? Some nursing homes (you could pm me if you want the names of some non-nightmare nursing homes in your area) will take you on without experience but most will ask for TAFE Cert 3 in Community Services. However, there is such a demand for carers that there are several organisations offering fast track traineeships (we usually deal with Maxima but there are others about). Just be aware that personal carers’ pay is only about $16 -18/hour and while you are doing a traineeship you may be working for as little as $6/hour. Or you could apply for an Enrolled Nurse course (1 year ft equiv as opposed to 3 years for Registered Nurse). Unlike the old days, I believe that now some, if not all, of these courses give you credit towards the three year university Registered Nurse degree course but you would need to check.
If you want to go for the RN course I would highly recommend the Adelaide University course. “One of the most important strengths of this innovative program is the substantial amount of time dedicated to learning in practice. This clinical time is significantly increased from traditional Australian undergraduate nursing programs.” The university has teamed up with the RAH to provide extra clinical placement time and I’ve heard only good reports about this from students. Because of this though, it’s very popular and as they only take a small number of students each year, getting in could be tricky - but certainly worth the effort. Otherwise, Flinders University is considered marginally better that University of SA though probably Uni SA (City East Campus) would be easier for you geographically.
Well, I’ve told you some of the bad. Most of the rest of the bad is linked to in the above thread. There’s also the special hell that is a late/early (finish at 11pm, start again at 7am), working for eight days straight, night duty. There are unpleasant patients and unpleasant tasks - seriously, you will have to clean up buttocks and beds full of faeces, not to mention sputum mugs and trying not to vomit while holding the bowl for some-one who is. The good? Sometimes, you get to make people happy just by doing your job well. It’s nice that people can trust you when they are at their lowest. It’s challenging and interesting and people will amaze you on a daily basis. There’s always something to learn. If you pick your job right, you can have autonomy and with the rise of the Nurse Practitioner role, you may even get a Medicare provider number too.
As I said, I’m in gerontics. I chose it because autonomy is important to me and it’s one of very few specialisations in nursing where you can have that. However, I think things will change very quickly now that Nurse Practitioner is in like Flynn. I’m considering doing the course myself (days too late for this year’s intake, dammit) which would make me only the second Gerontic NP in the state. It’s good to be in a field where I can carve the path, so to speak. Also, even though I’m not a qualified Psychiatric Nurse, I’m quite interested in that field and gerontics gives me lots of exposure to that. It’s a quirk of my personality that I like getting into other people’s realities, if only for a moment, because Lord knows, often their reality is better than mine.
You could glance at the employment section of The Advertiser today though. There’s an agency advertising their rates. While the permanent starting wage for a first year RN might only be $23/hour it would be quite feasible for you to graduate and work for an agency for the rates advertised.
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Otherwise, you have an IT background - why don’t you stick where you are and apply to one of the IT sections? Mr Bathsheba entered at APSO4 level with minimal IT skills.