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Becoming a Nurse: Everything You Need To Know
Claudia Reiners
Nursing is a fundamental profession to modern health care; it is a career that is highly valued and respected, and that requires an individual who is a hard worker, compassionate, can communicate effectively and can remain level-headed in challenging situations.
As nursing professionals are in the health care and social assistance category, this suggests that the National Disability and Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will continue to enhance the industry’s employment growth. The help of the NDIS, along with supplementary government expenditure, indicates that there will be an estimated 119,000 healthcare workers by the year 2024, making this sector the economy’s largest with a total of 1.8 million workers.
Registered Nurse
Registered Nurses are responsible for providing care to patients not only in hospitals but also in aged care and other health facilities, along with the general community.
Registered Nurse Duties
- Evaluating, preparing, enforcing and assessing the nursing care for patients; all aligning with accepted nursing practice and recognised standards
- Working alongside other Health Professionals to coordinate patient care
- Overseeing and organising the work and roles of other health care workers and Enrolled Nurses
- Providing and enforcing treatments and therapies, for example administering medications, and observing responses to treatment and the patient’s overall care plan
- Providing answers and other information to patients and their families regarding the patient’s treatment and further care once they leave hospital care
Gender Share
This industry is predominantly female with 64%, whilst male share is 36%.
Age Brackets
The most popular age group for individuals working as a Registered Nurse is 45-54 years (24.6%), whilst the lowest is 15-19 years (0.3%).
$58,622
is the Average Annual Salary + Super
Very Strong Future Job Growth Predicted
164,000
Estimated Job Openings in the Next 5 Years
Top 5 Skills for Registered Nurses
- Active Listening – 82%
- Social Perceptiveness – 82%
- Service Orientation – 80%
- Speaking – 80%
- Coordination – 78%
Employment by State
The state of NSW shares the largest percentage of workers in the Registered Nursing field with 31.3%. A close second is Victoria, sitting at 24.9%. Explore TAFE in Melbourne.
If you’d like to learn more, click here to read why studying nursing is the key to a rewarding career.
Midwife
Midwives are responsible for providing care, assistance and advice to women throughout their pregnancy, labour and childbirth. They also tend to postnatal care for both mothers and babies. Midwives can work in a variety of environments, such as hospitals, the home, the community, health units and clinics.
Midwife Duties
- Providing advice and care throughout the pre-conception, intrapartum, antenatal and postnatal phases
- Delivering care and managing the pregnancy and birth
- Leading health education classes and seminars that educate parents-to-be on topics such as reproductive health, the preparation for parenthood and breastfeeding
- Evaluating progress and identifying warning signs of irregular and potentially abnormal pregnancies that may require a referral to a more specialised health professional
- Observing the condition of women and foetuses during a woman’s pregnancy and throughout their labour
- Offering advice and guidance regarding topics such as nutrition and childcare
Gender Share
Females make up 99.9% of this industry, with a tiny fraction (0.1%) of workers being male.
Age Brackets
The most popular age group for individuals working as a Midwife is 45-54 years (29.6%), whilst the lowest is 65 and over (4.5%).
$50,335
is the Average Annual Salary + Super
Very Strong Future Job Growth Predicted
164,000
Estimated Job Openings in the Next 5 Years
Top 5 Skills for Midwives
- Active Listening – 82%
- Critical Thinking – 82%
- Social Perceptiveness – 82%
- Speaking – 82%
- Active Learning – 80%
Employment by State
Again, NSW outranks all other Australian states, holding 37.1% of all jobs in this industry. QLD comes in third with 13.3%, SA fourth with 11% and WA fifth with 9.1%. Explore TAFE in QLD, TAFE SA and training courses in Perth here.
Midwifery is a form of Complementary Health Therapy. Learn about Complementary Health Therapist job outcomes here.
Dental Nurse
Dental Nurses are responsible for preparing patients for their dental examination. They assist Dental Practitioners, Hygienists and Therapists in delivering treatment to patients.
Dental Nurse Duties
- Preparing patients for their treatment
- Organising and distributing instruments, medication, and other dental tools to the Dental Practitioner
- Processing X-rays
- Operating water sprays and suction devices
- Executing maintenance and upkeep on dental apparatus
- Disinfecting and preventing the cross-infection of dental equipment
- May give direction and health advice to patients regarding dental health and post-operative upkeep
- May act as receptionist for their Dental clinic
- May undertake billing and other clerical responsibilities
Gender Share
This industry is predominantly female with 97.8%, whilst male share is 2.2%.
Age Brackets
The most popular age group for individuals working as a Dental Nurse is 25-34 (34.2%), whilst the lowest is 65 years and over (0.2%).
$39,401
is the Average Annual Salary + Super
Stable Future Job Growth Predicted
11,000
Estimated Job Openings in the Next 5 Years
Top 5 Skills for a Dental Nurse
- Active Listening – 70%
- Reading Comprehension – 68%
- Speaking – 68%
- Critical Thinking – 62%
- Service Orientation – 62%
Employment by State
For Dental Nurses, QLD ranks on top with 25.3% of jobs in the industry, then VIC (24.6%) and NSW (24.5%). Interestingly, although Tasmania is sitting on 4.3% of the overall share of workers, the state’s average for all occupations is 2%. This means that the share of Dental Nurses in Tasmania is more than double the percentage of all occupations. Explore TAFE in Tasmania here.
Medical Technicians
Medical Technicians are responsible for operating anaesthetic, cardiac, operating theatre and medical testing equipment, along with assisting with laboratory testing and filling prescriptions with the help of Health Professionals.
Medical Technician Duties
- Using specialised equipment to diagnose and observe disorders of the heart, kidneys, nervous system and hearing, and in anaesthesia
- Logging electrical activity of the heart – measuring the interpreted pattern and rhythm of heart rate
- Preparing and maintaining operating theatres, life support machines, anaesthetic workspaces and other medical equipment.
- Carrying out and assisting with medical analytical practices, as well as supporting Anaesthetists and the surgical team
- Organising and staining slides and tissue sections to analyse blood cells
- Undertaking diagnostic tests on tissues and body fluids and studying the chemical components of urine, faeces and blood
- Helping to prepare medications and delivering prescriptions to Pharmacists
Gender Share
This industry is predominantly female with 81.2%, whilst male share is 18.8%.
Age Brackets
The most popular age group for individuals working as a Medical Technician is 25-34 (32.8%), whilst the lowest is 65 years and over (3.2%).
$46,800
is the Average Annual Salary + Super
Very Strong Future Job Growth Predicted
30,000
Estimated Job Openings in the Next 5 Years
Top 5 Skills for a Dental Nurse
- Active Listening – 78%
- Reading Comprehension – 70%
- Critical Thinking – 68%
- Speaking – 68%
- Science – 65%
Employment by State
For Medical Technicians, Victoria holds the highest share of workers with 32.3%, then NSW (28.7%) and QLD (18.2%) to make up the top three states.
A Diploma in Nursing course is the perfect stepping stone to help you to build your career in nursing. If you’ve always wanted to work in an industry that is meaningful and provides a strong sense of purpose to all of those who are involved, then a nursing course is a great starting point for you.
Blended learning flexibility allows students to study in a way that best suits them – with a portion of the course delivered online, students are given the option to study their nursing course anywhere, anytime.
Why Studying Nursing Is The Key to a Rewarding Career
To find out everything you need to know about studying Nursing, as well as where it could take you career-wise, who better to ask than a fellow Nursing student? We sat down with Bronwyn to find out more about her experiences studying nursing as well as what motivated her to pursue a nursing career.
What are you studying at the moment?
I’m currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing, in my final year. I’m doing some work placement at the moment which keeps me really busy. Luckily the course is through distance learning, so I get to learn at my own pace and study when I need.
How are you liking your study?
Doing the Bachelor of Nursing is really good online, but it can be a little difficult at times too. Because of the nature of the course, sometimes I need to travel, only two of three times a year though. Luckily, I have an amazing job at the moment which allows me to work around the placement and the occasional travel to Adelaide. The course is a lot of work but I love studying and have been doing so since 2003, so I’m pretty used to it. I’ve done six Certificates and four Diplomas in various areas like child care, disability and even agriculture.
As for what I’m doing now, I do think the placement is very important but it can be hard, especially if you’ve never done something like it before. I do pretty well with all the theory work, but when it comes to practical skills I can be a bit lacking.
In something like Nursing, you need to be hands on and know all the skills and techniques, so doing a course with a work placement component is really important. I think more than anything it’s just making sure you have the commitment to the job, if you really love helping people, then the long hours and gruelling work shouldn’t seem so difficult.
Did anything inspire you to pursue a career in nursing?
I’ve worked in aged care and disability homes before, and I remember having a patient that required more assistance than I could give. I couldn’t help but wish I had the knowledge and skills to be able to assist people who need it the most, and that’s what really started me down the nursing career path. Another inspiration was my grandmother and wanting to develop the skills to help her as well.
I also run the Warialda Respite Centre, for people who have a mental illness or disability and need a place to stay. This is a big motivator in what I do and drives me to keep studying and developing me knowledge to help them as best I can.
Nursing is also a great area because you can tailor your career to a nursing specialty based on what you’re passionate about. I like that you can explore different areas and be involved in a variety of health-related departments as your career progresses.
What are your goals for the future?
I had to leave the Warialda Respite Centre for a while because of the work placement which took up a lot of my time. I’d like to get back there at some stage possibly. I’m also hoping to teach in the future, even in Vocational Education like TAFE.
I’ve done plenty of teaching in areas like child care and disability. I really love doing that, so maybe down the track I can help teach the skills I’m learning now to others.
Do you have any advice for anyone out there thinking of studying nursing?
My advice for nursing students is to do a course like a Certificate III, which is what I did in Aged Care. This allows you to gain the basic skills first and work in the industry after a year of training. It’s also a great course to do to move into other qualifications, like an Enrolled Nurse course where you can learn skills such as administering medications and acclimate to hospital work.
The great thing about these nursing courses is that when they’re complete; you can register as an enrolled nurse and enter the workforce with a broad range of skills and experience. It’s also really good to go back and upskill in different areas in the future.
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