Barwon Health Graduate programs

                     Graduate Programs at Barwon Health I Clinical Rotations I Graduate Support & Education I Recruitment and Selection Process I Further information

Graduate Programs at Barwon Health

Please note applications for the 2012 intake have now closed.

Barwon Health aims to assist graduate nurses with their transition from student nurse to registered nurse. Our graduate nurses are given opportunities to consolidate their nursing knowledge, with the assistance of clinical staff, to develop high quality skills in a range of clinical settings.

Barwon Health is the largest employer in the Geelong and Surfcoast region, employing over 5,000 people. It is an exciting and forever expanding organization which provides staff with ongoing educational and career opportunities.

Graduates at Barwon Health are employed to work part-time (four days/week) for 12 months. All graduates attend a four-day orientation program at the beginning of the graduate program. Intakes occur in mid January and late February.

Barwon Health offers three programs:

• Graduate Nurse Program
• Graduate Nurse / Midwife Program (double degree)
• Graduate Midwife Program

Clinical rotations

Clinical rotations are available in the following areas:

• Community
• Andrew Love Cancer Centre
• Medical Imaging
• Mental Health (adult mental health and aged mental health)
• Emergency Department
• Greta Volum Centre (day surgery centre)
• Operating suite, recovery, anaesthesia
• Paediatrics
• Special Care Nursery
• Cardiac Services
• Medical units – includes general medical, respiratory, infectious diseases, stroke, renal, pain management
• Surgical units – includes general surgical, orthopaedics, ENT, vascular, gynaecology, colorectal, urology
• Inpatient rehabilitation
• Residential aged care

For the midwifery programs, rotations include the following:

• Birth suites
• Special Care Nursery
• Post natal / ante natal
• Extended post natal care (midwifery program only)
• Pregnancy care clinic (midwifery only program)

Graduate Support & Education

During your graduate year at Barwon Health, you will receive support from a variety of people including your preceptors, clinical staff, managers, other graduates and of course the graduate support team. Whilst there may be great clinical staff and educators in your areas, graduates are supported by a dedicated graduate support team. The team consists of the Graduate Nurse Program Coordinator, Clinical Support Nurses and a Clinical Support Midwife. Graduates working across all sites and areas are supported by the graduate support team. 

The graduate support team is available to assist graduates in areas such as medication rounds, time management and prioritisation, performing clinical procedures, assisting with accessing resources or just for a general chat and reassurance.  The graduate support team can be contacted easily and are always happy to help graduates when needed.

As part of the transition from student to registered nurse, graduates are also provided with opportunities to learn outside of their clinical areas. This includes:

 • Graduate support sessions – held fortnightly, these sessions are informal and provide the opportunity to discuss any clinical issues and to disseminate information. These sessions are facilitated by the graduate support team.

• Graduate study days – graduates attend 6 paid study days held throughout the year. Topics covered this year include pain management, safe use of blood products, management of central venous catheters, stomal therapy workshop and many more.

• Graduates are also entitled to a further 2 paid study days. Graduates are encouraged to attend other study days, courses or workshops either held within Barwon Health or provided externally.

• Clinical competencies and learning modules – graduates are expected to complete learning modules and competencies related to their areas of practice. Graduates may also complete learning modules that they find of interest.

• Graduates are also required to complete a clinical development project or case study presentation. Both the project and case study require the graduate nurse to critically review the topic and reflect on practice. The project / case study are submitted as a paper and are presented to the graduate nurse group in the final study day of the year.

• Graduates are also provided with a professional development record folder to document their achievements throughout the year.

Recruitment and selection process

Barwon Health participates in the PMCV computer match process. It is important to ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria to participate in the computer match process prior to applying for graduate nurse positions.

The following persons are eligible to apply via the PMCV computer match process:

• Victorian Nurse Graduates/Midwifery Graduates, who are Australian citizens/permanent residents
• Interstate Nurse Graduates/Midwifery Graduates, who are Australian citizens/permanent residents
• New Zealand Nurse Graduates/Midwifery Graduates, who are New Zealand citizens

International students cannot apply to PMCV if they do not hold permanent residency status.

For more information regarding the PMCV computer match process, please visit

www.pmcv.com.au.

When applying for a graduate program at Barwon Health you will need the following:

• Letter of application with current, passport sized photo attached clearly stating which program/s you are applying for (no more than one page).

• Concise CV listing all clinical placements including hospital, type of placement and length of placement (no more than three pages)

• Statement of 250 words addressing the following question, “How would you incorporate each of the Barwon Health values into your clinical practice?”

• Certified transcript of university results to date with key of result codes

• Names and contact details (phone and email) of two recent clinical referees

• Certified copies of clinical assessments from the final two years of your program.

If your application has been successful, you will be asked to attend an interview. Interviews will be held on Level 1 of Kitchener House on Ryrie Street Geelong (opposite Geelong Hospital) throughout August. You can expect to be interviewed by a panel of two staff members and for the interview to last approximately 30 minutes. You will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of your interview.

Further information and useful links

For further enquiries specific to the program you are interested in, please contact:

Kelly-Ann Humphrys
Graduate Nurse Program Coordinator
T 03 5226 7906
Email: graduatenurseprogram@barwonhealth.org.au

Nicky Hartney
Midwifery Clinical Educator
T 03 5226 7043
Email: graduatenurseprogram@barwonhealth.org.au

Nursing Graduate handbook

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