11 DECEMBER 2007
National first as six Waikato nurses take up primary care internships
Media release from Waikato Primary Health
In a national first, six nursing graduates in Waikato will enter straight into paid primary health care internships early next year. In the past, nurses had to start their careers in hospitals, as there was no systematic transition to primary health care.
The innovative new scheme is funded by Waikato Primary Health, working with the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), who provide academic resources and clinical support.
"Our goal is to attract new nurses into primary care by offering a new and different career path," says Hilary Graham-Smith, Director of Nursing for Pinnacle and Nursing Advisor to Waikato Primary Health.
"We want to specifically strengthen the resource in primary health care. Under the new scheme, we provide a structured, paid internship for new graduates in their first year of practice."
The graduate pathway complements the ground work laid in 2006, when Wintec introduced a primary health care pathway in the Bachelor of Nursing programme. This allows students in their second year to focus on the appropriate skills, activities and ethos of primary health care nursing, while continuing to participate in the core subjects required for registration. Primary health care covers a variety of nuring disciplines including practice nursing, public health nursing, Plunket and district nursing.
When these students graduate, they now have the option to continue specialising in primary care through a formal internship.
Workforce studies done by the Pinnacle General Practice Network show some 200 new practice nurses will be needed in the Waikato in the next 20 years to avoid a shortage. The average age of current practice nurses is 46 years, which means that many will retire in the next 20 years. This makes the recruitment of more nurses into the sector a priority.
"We have to capture the imagination and foster enthusiasm for primary health care with student nurses and keep that momentum going," says Mrs Graham-Smith.
"They have to have positive experiences of primary health care and be given the opportunity to choose nursing in this specialty area as their career path. The new internship programme will help graduates develop from being a newly qualified Registered Nurse to being a confident and competent primary health care provider."
The six nurses selected for the programme will be placed in a variety of primary health care settings where they will receive professional supervision and support. The placement sites have committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for them.
Five of the six nursing graduates will spend their first semester mostly in Hamilton city, with the second semester in a range of rural settings. The sixth graduate will be located in Taumarunui.
"Primary health care nursing practice has expanded in scope and complexity in recent years and we needed a formal process to guide newcomers into the profession," says Mrs Graham-Smith.
"The historic assumption that nurses have to work in secondary care first is not only false, but quite misleading. Work in a secondary care environment is not the most suitable preparation for a career in primary health care."
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