Nursing is one of the most exciting and in-demand professions in the world today. Its demand might be in different scale in the different part of the world, however it is becoming consistently more and more popular year after year. One of the obvious prevailing reasons is because it offers greater opportunities and rewards, yet providing flexibility to suit the individual’s lifestyle in this challenging world in comparison to other professions. It has got its own challenges as every job but the rewards and satisfaction out weight the challenges.
Nursing skills are transferable, which means you can travel all around the country and even across the world and work in a range of sectors with minimum up skilling and/or meeting local requirements. Because of the above reasons Nurses are widening their skills and experience outside the border more than ever. This trend in equally applicable to Nepalese nurses. In the last decade Nepalese nurses are one of the leading professionals who have been migrating to various parts of the world including Europe, North America and South pacific region. Australia is becoming one of the most popular destination for Nepalese nurses as it is one of the developedcountry who is front foot to recognising skills and professionalism of Nepalese nursing professionals. It is also providing background for the prosperity of the skills migration including the nurses.
Common Factors attracting Nepalese Nurses in Australia
availability of jobs once qualified
variety of job scopes
leads to permanent residency
reasonably better pay
flexible working hours
job security
Unfortunately,a number of qualified nurses are disappointed after arriving to Australiaas they are not recognised as a registered nurse on day one and have not been able to work as a professional nurse. This is primarily because of inadequate self-research and/or misleading information from othersincluding visa agents prior to heading to Australia.
This article is prepared to help Nepalese nurses whether they are already here in Australian or planning to come to Australia in the near future. It provides recognition requirements and eligibility to successfully acquire the registration and work as a professional nurse in Australia. In the same vein the article is aiming to provide some inside information about the current nursing job demand, supply shortfall and future prediction. Hopefully, it will provide some level motivation to Nepalese nurses to choose Australia as their preferred destination for professional practice and make as a second home should they prefer to do so.
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) work as a central co-ordinating professional body for health professionalsin Australia on behalf of the 14 different health professional organisations (represented as a national boards) and appointed provider turning point to deliver a national health support service for nurses, midwives and students with a health impairment or at risk of a health impairment in Australia.Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia(NMBA) similar to Nepalese counterpart organisation Nepal Nursing Council which deals with nursing profession in Australia also falls under the umbrella of AHPRA.
NMBA is responsible for:
Registering nursing and midwifery practitioners and student nurses
Developing standards, codes and guidelines for nurses and midwives
Handling notification, complaints, investigation and disciplinary hearings
Approving accreditation, standards and accreditation course of study
Even though NMBA is a nursing professional organisation, day to day dealing and communicationdoes falls under the AHPRA. Therefore, Nepalese nurses need to contact with AHPRA for the all the registration application process and any other professional matters.
Minimum Nursing Registration Requirements:
Nepalese nurses who would like to obtain the nursing registration and work in Australian will require to meet the following minimum requirements.
Meet English requirements
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) – at least 7 in each band and minimum 7 or above in average. OET (Occupational English Test) – at least B in each band. PTE (Pearson Test of English) at least 65 or above. This is generally valid for two years.
Meet the Nursing qualification recognition requirements
Qualification requirements is detailed in the body of this article
Successful completion of IRON program (Initial Registration for Overseas Nurses programme)
This is a short academic program which is a pre- requisite for all the nursing individual prior to obtain the nursing registration to work as a registered nurse in Australia. This program is aimed to assist overseas qualified nurses to embrace the knowledge and skills required to work as a nurse and to provide to support in the transition from nursing in their home country of origin to nursing in Australia.
Apply and obtain nursing registration from AHPRA
Registration Application Process with AHPRA:
The detail registration process with AHPRA is outlined below.
Qualification assessment
Apply to AHPRA for qualification assessment along with English requirements, verification letter from NNC (Nepal Nursing Council), Academic qualification, Resume, proof of RN (Registered Nurse) in Nepal and required associated fee. The assessment process may take from 3-6 months.
Obtaining an approval letter from AHPRA to attend the registration course (IRON programme),which is valid only for 12 months. The applicant has to be enrolled to a designated course within the 12 months of the letter issued by AHPRA.
Find out eligible course provider (institute)
Organising relevant supporting documents (e.g. Police clearance certificate, birth certificate, passport etc.) and submit to the course provider. All the documents must be in English language.
Complete the recommended course. This course may vary from 3 months to 2 years depending upon the individual’s qualification. Refer below for the qualification credit/recognition criteria and further qualification requirements.
Apply to AHPRA for nursing registration. It may take 4 – 6 weeks.
Confirmation of registration certificate.
The nursing qualification in Nepal does not necessarily fully match with the developed country’s program. It is primarily applicable to Nepalese university nursing courses which are enrolled immediately after successful completion of SLC. Other than recently introduced nursing courses which are designed to match with the overseas nursing qualification,remaining nursing courses does not fully meet the AHPRA requirements. Hence, Nepalese qualified nurses are required to enrol for further study. The following describes the common nursing qualifications in Nepal and recognition level in Australia.
Proficiency certificate level (PCL nursing)
This is the most common nursing qualification in Nepal. This is a 3 year course after the completion of SLC.AHPRA does not provide any validation to this course and offer credit. Nurses with the above qualification must study full time 3 years Bachelor of Nursing course from Australian University should they want to obtain the nursing registration in Australia. English requirements minimum of 6-7 in IELTS will be essential to study this course. The requirements varies from state to state and as well as depends on the university.
Proficiency certificate level (3 years course) + 2 years bachelor of nursing
This is another common qualification group within Nepalese nurses. AHPRAprovides maximum 1-2 years of credit on the basis of their work experience and area of practice. This group of nurses still need to meet the English requirements as mentioned above and are required to undertake 1-2 years of further studies in Australian universities to get the equivalent to Bachelor of Nursing in order to obtain registration in Australia.
Proficiency certificate level (3 years course) + 3 years bachelor of nursing (new program)
This group of Nurses are not out of Nepalese Universities yet. After the successful completion of this course with the same English requirements as above, they can apply for qualification assessments to AHPRA. Most probably this qualification will be recognised by AHPRA as an equivalent to Bachelor of Nursing. However, IRON program will be still required for the registration in Australia.
BSC in nursing (4 years)
This qualification group required to meet the same English requirements and IRON program as above to obtain the registration in Australia.
BSC in nursing (from south ASIAN countries)
Individuals who have completed 4 years of Bachelor of Nursing from a South Asian country (eg. India and Bangladesh) with the same English requirements and the IRON program as above are eligible for registration in Australia.
Others (master or higher degree in Nursing)
This qualification group are required to meet the same English requirements and IRON program as above to obtain the registration in Australia.
Major course providers for IRON programme (AHPRA approval) – For Victoria:
ETEA (Education Training and Employment Australia)- level 1, 113 burgundy street, Heidelberg (3 months course)
ACFE (Australian Centre For Further Education- level 5, 341 Queen Street, Melbourne (3 months course)
INHA (Institute Of Health And Nursing Australia)- 1/ 76-80 Trunham Av, Rosanna, VIC (3 months course)
Deakin university- Burwood highway, Burwood, VIC (10 weeks course)
Latrobe university- Bendigo (13 weeks course)
Lonsdale institute- alpine health, myrtle ford (3 months course)
Monash university- clayton (12 weeks course Lawson college- Dandenong, Ballarat And Berwick (all places 3 months course)
Wimmera health care group- Horsham and Dimboola (12 weeks course)
For more information, please go to www.ironprogramme.com.au
Documents required to apply for the IRON course:
AHPRA approval letter (valid for 12 months)
English evidence (valid 24 months)
Resume
Proof of nursing registration in NEPAL
Copy of passport
Police clearance
Working with children check clearance certificate
Overseas health insurance (if no Australian Permanent Residency)
Valid visa for the course duration
Referee check (may be required)
Evidence of immunization
Academic fee (varies from $12,500- $15,000/ course)
Units of study IRON program (Theoretical- 4 weeks course):
Australian health care system
Legal and ethical environment in Australia
Australian health care continuous improvement practice
Inter-personal relationship in health care system
Cultural diversity in health care system
Technology and equipment in Australian nursing practice
Risk management in nursing
Pharmacology
Occupation health and safety
Infection control
Practical placement IRON program (Generally 8 weeks course):
Critical thinking scenarios
Drug calculation and medication management
Competency in practicing infection control issue- hand washing aseptic technique etc.
Competency in BLS (Basic Life Support)
Competency in medical terminology
Working within a scope of Australian nursing practice
Provision of effective nursing care
Demonstration, understanding of knowledge, skills and assessment
Maintain documentation, privacy and confidentiality
Nursing in Australia is one of the lucrative carrier fieldswith a wide range of professional carrier developments and leadership opportunities. There are at around 333,000 registered nurses and midwivescurrently working in Australia. The shortage of nurses is still being experiencedin both the public and private sectors and it is anticipated that the situation will not improve in the foreseeable future.Based on the current trend unless drastic measures will be adopted by the Australian government, it appears that the shortage of Nurses will not be addressed at least for another decade. The following are some of compelling reasons for shortage of nurses:
Growing aging population. Australia has one of the highest average life expectancy in the world.
Overall population is increasing due to the Australian immigration policy. Currently few hundreds thousandpeople are migrating to Australia every year.
Australian birth rate just above 2% which is positive in comparison to most developed countries.
Nepalese nurses history in Australia does not go very far. With some exceptions, official recordsshow that Nepalese nurses began to come to Australia in 1990’s. Initially Nepalese nurses travelled to Australia for education and short term training. For example, in Victoria the first Nepalese nurse was registered in 2000. Gradually, nurses migration to Australia and registration trend start to get rapid momentum. Today, after just over 15 years there are already hundreds and thousands ofregistered nurses in Victorian and Australia respectively.
Nepalese nurses are highly regarded in the Australian health industry and well established within the short period. They have been demonstrating high professional skills and are already working from standard registered nurse position to managerial position. I would like to encourage all the readers of this article especially Nepalese nursesto consider to come to Australia as this country truly values the professionalism of Nepalese qualified nurses andare warmly welcomed in the nation of Kangaroos.
Laxmi Pokhrel
Melbourne, Australia
Author of this article has been working in nursing profession for last 18 years
[email protected]
Source: swasthyakhabar
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