New education initiatives

The federal government has announced that almost 670 aged care nursing scholarships are now up for grabs. It has also just launched a new online professional development course for community nurses working with veterans.

 

Photo courtesy of Goodwin

The Minister for Aged Care, Mark Butler, has announced that 666 new aged care nursing scholarships, worth up to $30,000, are now available to those working in the sector.

The scholarships are for postgraduate, undergraduate and nurse practitioner studies, including continuing professional development, and for nurse re-entry courses.

They will be provided through the Aged Care Nursing Scholarships program with funding from the Aged Care Workforce Fund.

Additional scholarship places are also due to be announced in “early 2013”.

“Aged care nursing scholarships provide valuable assistance to people considering careers in aged care and are a critical component of our effort to boost the aged care workforce,” Mr Butler said.

A total of 2,860 scholarships are planned to be provided over four years as part of a $52.6 million federal government commitment to grow the aged care workforce.

“Aged care is a very rewarding part of the health system to work in – scholarships like these provide real and practical support while extending skills, improving clinical care and furthering careers in aged care,” he said.

More information can be obtained from the Royal College of Nursing Australia on 1800 116 696 or at www.rcna.org.au.

The federal government has just launched a new online, interactive professional development course for the community nurses who look after Australia’s 325,000 war veterans, widows and widowers.

The new vetAWARE course, the details of which were announced by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Warren Snowdon late-last week, aims to increase nurses’ understanding of the common mental health challenges faced by veterans.

The interactive online course is being rolled out by the government to enable community nurses to offer better support to families of veterans with mental health issues.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) contracts hundreds of community nurses around the country to provide health services to former and current servicemen and women, and war widows and widowers.

“The course was developed in consultation with nurses and other mental health professionals, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” he said.

vetAWARE has been endorsed by the Royal College of Nursing Australia, and nurses who complete the course will achieve points towards their professional development requirements.

Mr Snowden said he hopes the course will try and help “busy nurses” to find time to fit in professional development into a hectic work and family life.

For more information about vetAWARE, visit the DVA website – www.dva.gov.au – and search for ‘community nursing’.

 

Tags: dva, education, nursing, royal-college-of-nursing-australia, scholarships, training, vetaware, veterans, workforce,

1 thought on “New education initiatives

  1. Important notice: From the editor of Australian Ageing Agenda. Thank you to the many people who have read and posted comments to this story, asking to be considered for a scholarship or requesting further information about this or the vetAWARE course. I am sorry we have not published these posts but we do not wish to appear as though we can assist with these kinds of enquiries. Readers, please note we are a news service only. We are providers of information only; not any scholarships or training services. Please read the story carefully. We have provided links to the relevant contact people within the story. You will need to click on those links and make your enquiries through the appropriate channels. Best wishes, Keryn Curtis

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