Western Health has a huge variety of educational and professional development options for our nurses and midwives.
Scholarship season:
September and October is scholarship season, and there are a huge number of internal and external scholarships and grants available to our nurses and midwives, including:
Internal:
- Nursing & Midwifery Research Grants – applications close 30 September 2022
- Denise Paterson Research Grant – applications close 30 September 2022
- Mavis Mitchell Memorial Scholarship – applications close 30 September 2022
- Nursing & Midwifery PhD Scholarship – applications close 31 October 2022
- Our post-graduate scholarships are announced later in the year, and applications will close in February 2023.
External:
- Australian Nurses Memorial Centre scholarships – applications close 30 September 2022
- Victorian Nurses and Midwives Trust Grants – applications close 7 October 2022
- Australian College of Nursing scholarships – applications close 10 October 2022
- Women’s Healthcare Leadership Scholarships – applications close 18 November 2022
Education and Learning:
To provide Best Care, our Education & Learning Unit is committed to offering programs that continually develop the capabilities and skills of our nurses and midwives. Western Health aims to provide work based education and training for staff, students and external applicants which will support excellence in practice and career progression opportunities. We are pursuing multi-disciplinary approaches, patient-centred care and lifelong learning. All programs utilise the services of suitably qualified and vocationally experienced educators and clinicians.
A large selection of short courses, on-line learning and training is available via Western Health’s WeLearn.
Leadership Development:
Nursing & Midwifery sponsors a wide range of programs designed to develop our managers and leaders, irrespective of where they are in their career. We also have programs designed to support, develop and enhance our clinical leaders in their roles.
The current programs are available:
- Transforming Leadership Capability (TLC) – for Unit Managers
- Advancing Frontline Management (AFL) – for Associate Unit Managers
- Management Masterclasses
- Nurse Practitioner Clinical Leadership Development
- Clinical Nurse/Midwife Consultant Clinical Leadership Development
- Clinical Educator LEAD program
Please click here to view the 2022 leadership program timetable.
Grad+:
Western Health has recently had the most applications in our history for our new graduate program Grad+ for 2022. This is really positive with more and more nurses and midwives wanting to come and join the team.
Commencing in 2022 our early career nurses and midwives will participate in our new Grad+ program. We think that we’re onto a winner, and that this will get even more people interested in starting their career at Western Health.
The new program will be a 2 year program, that will include 4 rotations, with the second year including more rotations into specialty areas. The program also includes 2 free Western Health post-graduate subjects that are accredited with 5 universities focusing on advanced clinical assessment, pathophysiology and clinical leadership.
The programs is the first of its type, as far as we are aware, and has been specifically designed to offer benefits to our early career nurses and midwives that include:
- Offer an entry to practice program that provides wider experience to different clinical specialties, to create well-rounded nurses and midwives with diverse experience in their early career years.
- Support our nurses and midwives to be able to have broader experiences and options available to them prior to choosing their preferred specialty
- Embed a culture of life-long learning through supporting the continuation of formal education into the early career years
- Make post-graduate education more accessible and affordable for our nurses and midwives
- Increase participation rates in post-graduate education, by offering 2 free subjects as part of their early career years.
- Enhance Western Health’s status of an employer of choice for newly graduated nurses and midwives.
Free Nursing & Midwifery Study
Victoria’s healthcare workforce faces long-standing pressures that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated.
To help address issues regarding the supply and distribution of the healthcare workforce, the Victorian Government is implementing a range of initiatives to support Victoria’s healthcare workforce, including scholarships and training support for thousands of nurses and midwives.
The package is anticipated to support the recruitment and training of 17,000 nurses and midwives to the health system. These nurses and midwives will play a critical role alongside current healthcare workers as the health system continues to respond to current demand, and reforms to increase capacity for the future.
- Scholarships to support Enrolled Nurse (EN) to Registered Nurse (RN) transition
This funding will support eligible enrolled nurses employed in public health services to undertake further study to gain general registration as registered nurses. Enrolled nurses will be supported via scholarships to commence studies in 2023 or 2024.
Scholarships to support Enrolled Nurse (EN) to Registered Nurse (RN) transition - Re-entry pathway: Scholarships and support for nurses and midwives to re-enter the workforce
This pathway will provide scholarships and support for up to 25 nurses and midwives per annum to complete an approved re-entry to practice program return to practice in public health services.
Re-entry pathway: Scholarships and support for nurses and midwives to re-enter the workforce - Refresher Pathway: Scholarships and support for nurses to re-enter the workforce
This pathway will provide scholarships and support for 225 nurses and midwives per annum to undertake refresher training to return to practice in public health services.
Refresher Pathway: Scholarships and support for nurses to re-enter the workforce - Additional postgraduate nursing positions in specialty areas
This additional investment funding in postgraduate nursing and midwifery programs will support health services to train and develop specialist nursing capability in emergency care, intensive care, oncology, midwifery and other areas of high need.
Additional postgraduate nursing positions in specialty areas - Scholarships for postgraduate nurses and midwives in specialty areas
This funding will provide scholarships to support nurses and midwives in public health services to undertake an eligible clinical postgraduate course increase both the number and value of scholarships provided to nurses and midwives undertaking postgraduate studiesin areas of clinical practice where there is an identified workforce need.
Scholarships for postgraduate nurses and midwives in specialty areas - Support for new Nurse Practitioners
This funding will enable public health services to support nurse practitioner candidates, grow the number of nurse practitioners and meet future needs across the system.
Support for new Nurse Practitioners - Increased graduate nurse and midwife support
This initiative will provide additional funding to public health services to support more places in nursing and midwifery graduate programs.
Increased graduate nurse and midwife support - Undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery Scholarships
These scholarships are designed to remove financial disincentives for nursing and midwifery students who complete their undergraduate qualification in nursing and midwifery at a Victorian education provider.
Undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery Scholarships - Support for additional midwifery positions
This program aims to grow the midwifery workforce through supporting public health services to increase the number of registered nurses undertaking postgraduate studies in midwifery through a postgraduate midwifery employment model.
Support for additional midwifery positions
Postgraduate Education and Scholarships:
Western Health in partnership with respected Victorian Universities, offers postgraduate programs for nurses interested in developing their knowledge and skills in specialty nursing practice.
We also provide generous scholarships to support our nurses and midwives to undertake post-graduate education.