Curtin-EMHS pathway key to growing nursing numbers

A new collaborative pathway between East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) and Curtin University will see 15 nursing students undertake part of their clinical rotations across inpatient and community settings within Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), Bentley Health Service (BHS) and Armadale Health Service (AHS).  

For Kylie Fawcett, Nursing Director – Innovation and Education at the Royal Perth Bentley Group (RPBG), establishing connections and relationships with education providers is critical to building the statewide nursing and midwifery workforce.  

“At EMHS, we also recognise that we have a lot to offer, and by supporting undergraduates to undertake a greater proportion of their clinical rotations within our area health service, they will build greater familiarity with our policies, paperwork, staff and more,” Kylie said.  

“This will then hopefully decrease their cognitive load, creating capacity to focus more on building their clinical skills, knowledge and behaviours – and hopefully, also contribute to our culture of continuously striving for excellence.” 

At Curtin University, nursing students complete seven stages of study, with the EMHS-Curtin partnership open to students from stages four and five. Depending on the stage of their studies, they will undertake different placements to support the learnings within the curriculum.

“The vision is that we will offer this opportunity to undergraduates, and that we will, over time, see a continuous pipeline of students who select EMHS as a preferred health service to undertake their rotations across the specialty areas aligning with their curriculum,” Kylie elaborated. 

East2East caught up with Brieonny Banks, one of the 15 Curtin students who are now familiarising themselves with clinical areas across EMHS. 

Brieonny’s first stop is the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at RPH, a great place to start especially as it’s an area in which she is interested. 

“I'm a little bit nervous, especially because I've never been in an ICU before, but it'll be exciting. I'm just excited because I like critical care,” Brieonny smiled. 

“It's nice to be associated with East Metro. I live in the East Metro catchment area, so it's very convenient for me, and it's also nice to be associated with a program that can help you to better your education outside of university. I feel like you don't get that opportunity always, so that's why I'm most excited about it,” she added.

Jill Sadler, a course coordinator for Curtin’s Undergraduate Nursing Program, said the partnership represented a “wonderful opportunity” for students. 

“It gives them the opportunity to see what is out there and open their eyes to a new experience in a perhaps a different site. So, we try and give them different clinical experiences and clinical placements and… refine their practice.”