More hospital training needed for nurses
Mon 10 November 2008
Christine Leader, Journalism
Veteran nurse Bev Dark believes that the nursing profession has suffered a decline in standards through shifting nurse training from the hospital to university.
“Too much has been lost,” Ms Dark said.
In a career spanning three decades, Ms Dark has worked in a variety of institutional and community settings, including seven years in Indigenous Health in outback Australia.
In her lifetime Ms dark has seen many changes to nurse training, hospital administration and client care.
Ms Dark, who trained at Sydney Hospital in the 1940s, admitted that, in those times, some aspects of hospital traineeships were difficult for nurses and less than ideal for patients.
“Young nurses were sent out to work on the wards with only a few weeks basic training, and the health and safety of staff was not as high priority as it is today,” Ms Dark said
However, Ms Dark said that the benefit of being thrust into the environment of shared experience and commitment was that a rapport developed, evolving into a spirit of communication and commitment which is difficult to replicate in today’s university setting.
Ms Dark also said that the practical clinical experience she and her contemporaries gained from real life situations was more relevant than the theory based practices taught today.
University of the Sunshine Coast senior nursing lecturer Margaret Barnes, who also gained her general nursing qualifications in the hospital system, agreed that the camaraderie and hands-on experience fostered in the hospital training model had, to some extent, been lost.
However, Dr Barnes said that with expansion of medical technology and pharmacology, and the increased demand for nursing expertise, the in-hospital system of training nurses was simply not viable.
Dr Barnes also said that the hospital hierarchy had prevented nurses from developing professionally.
“It kept them in a medical servant role,” Dr Barnes said.
“Now nurses have a career structure, they can advance through and can even qualify as autonomous practitioners.”
Dr Barnes said nursing degrees were introduced in Queensland in 1991.
Ms Dark, who is 78 years old, currently works between six and eight shifts a fortnight in a nursing home on the Sunshine Coast and has no plans to retire.
“I’m just a workaholic, I can’t stand just sitting around,” Ms Dark said.
“Work is what keeps me going.”
Dr Barnes said the nursing shortage was forcing recruiters to devise different strategies to solve the problem.
“There is a severe shortage of nurses.” Dr Barnes said
“So there is an active campaign to encourage nurses not currently working, whatever their background and education, back into nursing.”
Dr Barnes also said that the current financial crisis was driving nurses back to work.
“None of us will be retiring at 65,” Dr Barnes said.
Dr Barnes also explained that, while compulsory retirement had been abolished, registered and enrolled nurses were required to apply for a renewal of their Practising Certificate annually and to report any health changes which may affect their ability to work.
Dr Barnes said that the Queensland Nursing Council randomly audits one in every 50 applications to ensure that professional standards are maintained.
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