Nearly a quarter of graduates’ first choices were to work in mental health, primary health, or aged care settings, according to the latest data from the one-stop-job shop for graduate nursing jobs.
Chief Nurse Jane O’Malley released some more information on graduate job-hunting trends in response to the findings of the annual snapshot of November graduate’s job destinations, coordinated by nurse educator group NETS.
That snapshot showed the numbers employed in district health board medical or surgical roles were up (probably reflecting a rise in new graduate places offered by DHBs) and the numbers in primary health care, mental health, and continuing care/elderly were very slightly down.
O’Malley said the differences in job settings for new graduates were very small and the traditional patterns of graduates getting hospital experience in surgical and medical settings before moving into primary health care appeared to be continuing.
She said statistics from the ACE clearing house (the one-stop-job shop for government-subsidised new graduate programme places) showed primary care was the first choice work setting for nine per cent of graduates (about 11 per cent of the total nursing workforce works in primary care).
“Around half of these graduates (5.55 per cent) got jobs in primary health care,” she said. “We know that a large number of nurses who first work in surgical and medical settings will move over the next 3-6 years into other settings including primary health care.”
Slightly more than 10 per cent of graduates put mental health as their job setting choice (about 11 per cent of the total nursing workforce is in mental health) with a similar number finding jobs in mental health and addiction settings in 2011 and 2012. She said graduates who start work in mental health and addiction were likely to remain in those settings for at least six years and so it “would appear that the supply of RNs for those settings was matching current requirements”.
Aged care was the preferred work setting for only four per cent of graduates compared to aged care nurses making up nine per cent of the total workforce. “There are positions in aged care for new graduates.”
The ACE clearinghouse is only for places in government-subsidised NETP (nursing entry to practice) or NESP (mental health) new graduate programmes. The vast majority of the jobs are in district health boards but some places are also available in residential aged care and primary health care settings.
