Graduate Certificate or Diploma of Critical Care Nursing overview
The University of Sydney offers graduate certificates to students who desire entry-level knowledge of critical care nursing. These programs take six months of full-time study to complete or up to a year part-time, with units in advanced health assessment and foundational critical nursing practice. This makes them an ideal capstone to an existing nursing qualification or path to further study.
Graduate diplomas incorporate knowledge shared by certificates into a more extensive program. Curtin University and other institutions provide these courses, with units in evidence-based clinical practise, nursing science and clinical leadership. They take one year of full-time study to complete, or six months part-time.
Employment options
The employment prospects detailed here are a great fit for graduates from these programs. They may not be as extensive as master degrees, but the skills learned are sufficient for a career. Graduates ought to note that it is not a mandatory requirement to have a formal postgraduate critical care nursing qualification to practice as a critical care nurse. They need only have a bachelor of nursing in addition to registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. It does, however, help a great deal to become skilled in relevant practice through the use of these programs.
Should students successfully register with this board, they will find employment opportunities at the likes of Innovative Intensive Home Care nursing services or in intensive care units (ICUs) around the country.
Scholarships and funding
Critical care nursing students have access to a unique opportunity. Scholarships for Clinical Placement in a Hospital Emergency Department are offered by the Australian government to place nursing students in emergency departments, as the name suggests. It provides up to $23,000 to both current and future students. Although there are many general scholarships also available across faculties, critical care nursing students are strongly advised to prioritise this opportunity, as it provides invaluable work experience in addition to funding.
Prerequisites and selection process
Students require a bachelor of nursing to enter either program, with many requiring at least a credit GPA acquired in a prior study (65%, which translates to 5/7). Many programs also require students to be a registered nurse in addition to this, which they can do here.
Graduate diplomas, in particular, can require students to have completed a graduate certificate beforehand (with Curtin University as an ideal example), although this is not always the case.