Enrolled Nurses Removed from Two Aged Care Homes in Adelaide; Risking Patients' Lives

Two aged care homes in Adelaide, Australia has decided to remove enrolled Nurses from its operations, which could serious put the patients' lives at risk. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has clearly stated that such a decision by the aged care homes in Adelaide will create serious threats to the patients present over there. The aged care home is one of the major and best aged care homes in Adelaide has sacked around 30  of its enrolled nurses from its Morphettville and Walkerville sites.

As per ANMF South Australian branch chief executive officer Elizabeth Dabars, the enrolled nurses are one of the most skilled-level workers who provide care to the residents and the removal of these nurses will result in serious consequences in the residential aged care facility. Such a move will also affect the overall quality of the aged care facilities in this place.

The spokesman of the aged care home in Adelaide has said that the registered nurses would continue to have the same responsibility for medication management. He also said that the personal care workers who administered medication would continue to do so under supervision. He said that the current changes are made after careful consideration to meet the best interests of residents. The spokesman said all staffing changes were made after careful consideration to meet the best interests of residents.

The aged care industry in Australia is considered to be one of the best in the world and is also having a large scarcity of qualified and experienced professionals. Such a move will indeed have a negative impact on the overall aged care industry in Australia and will also put the careers of a large number of enrolled nurses at risk. The enrolled nurses in Australia are looking for a fresh turnover and hope that the issue will be solved without having to pay with their respective careers.

All the states in Australia have a good number of quality aged care centers with top class facilities and amenities. So far, the enrolled nurses in Australia has played a major role in taking these aged care centers to greater heights through their skills, knowledge, patience and dedication. They might be really feeling confused on what went wrong and why the aged care center has decided to remove them from the aged care homes in Adelaide.

They might still be able to grab other career opportunities in their respective field in Australia, but such a move will surely create a negative impact on the overall confidence level of the enrolled nurses in Australia.

The Importance of Nursing Bridging Program (IRON) in Australia

Nursing in Australia is something that can offer you a dream career in Australia and at the same time an opportunity to lead a decent life. There are a lot of nurses from different countries who are working as a registered nurse and leading a decent life in Australia. They overseas nurses in Australia have not started their career overnight; rather they had come across various hurdles and challenges before being a registered nurse in Australia.

One of the most important challenges that is being faced by the overseas nurses in Australia is to undergo the Initial Registration for Overseas Registered Nurses (IRON) program in Australia and then apply for becoming a registered nurse. The IRON program is also known as nursing bridging program or nursing adaptation program in different countries. The main reason why a nurse needs to undergo a nursing bridging program in Australia is to understand the unique working atmosphere and job culture of the hospitals in Australia. The hospitals in Australia are of international standards and nurses coming from different countries need to adapt to the working style of the Australian hospitals.

So, to get familiar with the working style of the Australian hospitals, the overseas nurses need to successfully undertake a nursing adaptation program from a reputed institute. Once the nurse successfully completes the IRON program in Australia, then they will be eligible to become a registered nurse in Australia. They can now go back to AHPRA and complete their applications for becoming a registered nurse in Australia. Once they become a registered nurse, they will become eligible to work as a nurse in any of the hospitals in Australia.

Before being able to undergo the IRON course, the nurses should qualify for the IELTS score and without that they could never dream of becoming a nurse in Australia. Once the nurses have sufficient IELTS score, then they can apply to undertake the IRON program and be on the right track towards becoming a registered nurse in Australia. Moreover, nursing profession is one of the better paid professions in Australia and if you are able to successfully complete the IRON program, then you can easily start dreaming of a great nursing career in Australia.

Make sure that you take the nursing bridging program in Australia from any of the reputed nursing institutes, colleges or universities which can also help or assist in getting a better job placement. There are a lot of institutes that offers job placements, while there are some other that offers only job assistance. Anyhow, it all depends on your skills and confidence and if you have both of those qualities, then nothing can stop you from getting your dream job in Australia.

How to become an enrolled nurse in Australia?

Nursing is a profession that is having huge demand in Australia and the availability of qualified nurses is low. So being a qualified nurse really opens the window for a successful nursing career in Australia. One the best way to grab a nursing career in Australia is by becoming an enrolled nurse. You can become an enrolled nurse in Australia by completing a Diploma of Nursing (Enrolled-Division 2 Nursing) course from an accredited nursing college or institute in Australia.

An enrolled nurse or division 2 nurse is expected to provide most of the patient’s personal care, which includes dressing, showering, feeding and administering of some oral medications. The division 2 nurses can  work in a range of different settings such as hospital wards, operating theatres, aged care facilities, Aboriginal Medical Services etc. Moreover, being an enrolled nurse in Australia is a major pathway for becoming a registered nurse.

Most of the time, people are confused as to the difference between  a registered nurse and an enrolled nurse. The enrolled nurses usually practice under the direction and delegation of a registered nurse  and the registered nurse is responsible for the overall patient care and plan.

For anyone to become an enrolled nurse, they need to have the right sets of character traits such as caring, understanding,  empathetic, non-judgmental and a bold desire to help others. At the same time, an enrolled nurse need to be able to control their won emotions whenever they are exposed to stressful or traumatic situations. Under any stressful situations, the enrolled nurse should remain calm and clear-headed, responsible and reliable.

The formal qualification to become an enrolled nurse in Australia is the Diploma of Nursing program offered by any of the reputed institutes. You also need to have a good communication skills in English so that you will not find any difficulty while dealing with the patients in Australia. The lack of qualified enrolled nurses in Australia is a positive factors for those who wish to take nursing as a career in Australia. The demand for the enrolled nurses are growing every day and this is something that needs to be capitalised upon.

Moreover, a Diploma of Nursing program can also be helpful if you wish to be a registered nurse in Australia.