Published: 25th November 2022.
Written by Melinda Irvine
Wondering if nursing is a good career in Australia? It sure is. Right now Australian nurses enjoy excellent job prospects, generous salary packages, and a wide range of job roles and specialist career paths. In today’s blog we’re unpacking our top 4 reasons to consider a career where you help people recover from injury and illness. Let’s start with prospects, because they’re awesome.
1. Prospects
Australia is currently experiencing a massive shortage of qualified nurses, so you won’t have any problems getting a job once you graduate from university. In some Australian states, the shortage of nursing staff is so critical, governments have been offering heavily subsidised (even free) university qualifications to encourage people into the industry.
2. Pathways
Completing a course that is accredited with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) is the nursing career pathway in this country. You will also need to undertake a number of practical placements at recognised hospitals or medical centres.
Course examples include:
- Diploma of Nursing — become an Enrolled Nurse (EN), working under the supervision of a Registered Nurse (RN).
- Advanced Diploma of Nursing — become a specialist EN, working under the supervision of a RN in a specialist area such as remote and rural nursing, critical care, individual support, or acute care.
- Bachelor of Nursing — become a Registered Nurse (RN).
- Graduate Diploma of Midwifery — become a Registered Midwife.
- Master of Mental Health Nursing — become a specialist community case worker or credentialed Mental Health Nurse.
- Master of Advanced Nursing — become a clinical nurse or Nurse Practitioner (NP).
3. Job Roles
Once you have a nursing qualification, there are loads of different job roles for you to choose from. How about:
Enrolled Nurse (EN)
Working under the supervision of a Registered Nurse, ENs monitor patient vitals, change dressings and bandages, assist with dressing and showering, liaise with families, clean and sanitise equipment, educate patients about their treatment plans.
Registered Nurse (RN)
Registered Nurses work in hospitals and other specialist centres providing bedside care and patient support. They administer medications and injections, prepare and administer IVs and catheters, collect samples, provide wound care, supervise and direct ENs, liaise with doctors and specialist practitioners.
Emergency Room ER Nurse
ER nurses deal with medical emergencies, receiving patients into the hospital who may have been involved in car accidents, fires, drug and alcohol overdoses, or domestic violence incidents.
Palliative Care Nurse
If you’re a highly compassionate person, you may feel called to hospice and palliative care nursing. In this job role you’ll be supporting people with serious illnesses like cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s or heart disease.
Mental Health Nurse
Mental health nurses support patients who have a diagnosed mental illness like depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. They support people in crisis who might be experiencing a major depressive episode (MDE), post-natal depression, or psychosis.
Midwife
Many Registered Nurses in Australia specialise in midwifery and support women during their pregnancy, labour, and postpartum period.
Nursing Practitioner (NP)
Nursing practitioners have the expertise and authority to diagnose acute and chronic health conditions, provide prescriptions, order X-rays and diagnostic tests, and refer patients for specialist treatment. They often take on leadership and high-end administrative roles.
Other nursing roles
Having a nursing qualification in Australia doesn’t limit you to hospital wards. You could work as a community nurse, general practice nurse, theatre nurse, school nurse, district nurse, prison nurse, children’s nurse, aged care nurse, nursing director, and more.
4. Salary
Australian nurses enjoy generous salary packages and you can expect your wage to grow as you gain experience and complete additional training. The figures below are the base salaries for Australian nursing professionals working full-time. However, nurses work a lot of shift work and overtime, so you can expect your actual salary to be higher than these.
- Enrolled Nurses ($48,828 - $63,942)
- Registered Nurses and Midwives ($65,572 - $70,963)
- Clinical Nurses Clinical Nurses ($95,659 - $96,909)
- Nurse Practitioners ($109,921 - $128,544)