We provide a learning environment that facilitates motivation and self-directed learning, and the development of a professional identity, with support and guidance.
Program
The Women’s provides graduate registered nurses with many opportunities to learn and consolidate their learning in a variety of women’s health and neonatal settings.
Duration
The Women’s graduate programs in 2025 provide a full-time (1 full-time equivalent (FTE)) or part-time (0.8 or 0.9 FTE) option.
The Women’s appreciates that the decision to undertake a graduate program on a full-time or part-time basis is individual. Some of the benefits of completing a graduate program on a full-time basis include:
- Increased contact hours accelerates integration into the world of work, and the development of clinical skill, capability and confidence as a nurse and/or midwife
- Enjoy more take-home pay to put toward things of personal importance or value
- Accrue the benefit of additional annual leave – full-time employees accrue 6 weeks of annual leave per annum
- Opt-in to gain an accrued paid day off (ADO)* each month – this provides 13 paid days off per year. Note: *based on an 80-hour per-fortnight contract
- Additional take-home pay means further growth to your superannuation including optimising the benefits of compounding interest over time
Placements
The following placement areas are available to Registered Nursing graduates in our program:
- Gynaecology & Women’s Cancer services: 5 North (Includes Complex Care)
- Neonates including Special Care Nursery and High Dependency Nursery
- Perioperative Suites. Includes Theatre; Anaesthetics, Post Anaesthetic Care Units & Day Surgery Unit
Placements are for 12 months in one area or a combination of 6 months in one area and 6 months in another. Graduates are asked to provide their placement preferences with their application. These will be further discussed at interview. Every attempt will be made to place graduates in their preferred areas, however, this may not always be possible.
Professional development days are provided throughout the year, occurring more frequently early in the year. These study days are tailored to meet the specific needs of the graduate group and cover a broad range of topics. These include clinical skills as well as the extensive range of services offered at The Women’s, including speakers from the Women's Alcohol and Drug Service, Neonates, Oncology Unit, Acute Pain Team, Women’s Health Clinics, and Reproductive Loss service, and many other areas.
Each graduate is allocated a preceptor by the nurse unit manager. Each placement provides graduates a supernumerary time appropriate to that area.
Graduates are generally not rostered night duty during the first 6-8 weeks of employment.
- Regular 3-monthly appraisals in each placement area
- Adult Basic Life Support (ABLS) competency
- Neonatal Resuscitation competency (if applicable)
- Emergency Management
- Researched 5-minute reflective presentation to graduates at their professional development day
- Reflective journal x4 submitted throughout the year
- Medicines Management
- Smart Move
- Hand Hygiene and Infection Prevention
- Data Integrity
- Respectful workplace behaviours
Upon successful completion of all program requirements, participants receive a hospital certificate.
Our Graduate Nurse Program has two intakes - in February and in May.
The Women's supports the rights of women to make individual decisions related to their health and well-being. This also includes making available pregnancy termination services. In your role as a graduate nurse you may care for women undergoing termination of pregnancy and, included in your care, you may be required to administer the first medication in this process. If you have any concerns in this regard you may need to rethink whether the Women's is the right hospital choice for completion of your Graduate Nurse program.
Graduate Nurse Information Evening
The 2025 Graduate Nurse Information Evening is scheduled for Wednesday 29 May 2024 (from 5pm-7pm), by Webinar.
Applications for the 2025 Graduate Nurse Program will be open from Monday 27 May 2024 – Friday 21 June 2024.
More information about the application process.