Nurses telling their tales of returning to work after seven to 27 years feature on a newly launched website designed to encourage New Zealand-trained nurses back into health.
The mix of stories and hard facts on return-to-practice programmes are covered in the website Healthcareers – Return to Health, launched on June 28.
The website is part of a collaborative project between District Health Boards New Zealand’s Healthcareers, the DHBNZ nursing and midwifery workforce strategy group and the directors of nursing for the 20 district health boards.
Jim Green, lead chief executive for the workforce strategy group, said the project brought together information on Nursing Council-approved competence assessment programmes into a single website.
With courses offered by a variety of providers including hospitals, DHBs and education providers, nurses had found it difficult in the past to find the right information on how to re-enter the workforce.
Kerry-Ann Adlam, project lead for the DHB directors of nursing, said the project had developed a great resource providing nurses with key questions to consider when making the choice about coming back into the workforce, along with inspirational stories.
“Nurses can become anxious about the prospect of returning to work,” said Adlam. “Hearing other people’s stories is a way of helping to reduce anxieties felt around returning after being out of practice for so many years.”
The approved courses on the website vary in length, quality, content, setting and cost with some more suited to candidates away from practice for three to 15 years and others for those who have been away 15 to 30 years. It also lists what nurses can expect when they re-enter the workforce and the impact it may have on their family.
Go to www.healthcareers.org.nz
