A survey of mid-year graduating nurses confirms that less than half appear to have found nursing jobs by the end of July.
Nursing Review reported last month that some nursing students had decided not to sit state finals in July in the belief that their job chances would be better if they sat at the end of the year.*
Soon after the Ministry of Health released data that 41 per cent (212) of the 515* new graduates applying for the mid-year intake of new graduate programme jobs had been successful compared to the nearly 60 per cent success rate for November applicants.
Now the annual survey of July graduates by NETS (Nurse Education in the Tertiary Sector) reports only 208 respondents are known be working as registered nurses (RNs).
This is equivalent to 46.5 per cent of the 447 students who sat their state final exams in July, which is a very similar result to the NETS survey at the same time last year. (Though the number of students sitting state finals in July 2013 was 8 per cent higher than in 2012 so the survey may indicate the number of new graduates getting jobs may be slightly higher than last year.)
The actual number unemployed or working remains unclear as the 2013 survey only had a 78 per cent response rate so the job status of 100 new graduates is unknown.
Of the 347 who did respond 128 were still seeking work as an RN (about 37% of respondents) and only 11 (3% of respondents) reported they were not seeking work as an RN.
Of the survey respondents who had found nursing work the vast majority, 183, were in new graduate programmes. Only a dozen or so appeared to have found work outside of new graduate programmes including four in private hospitals and four overseas.
Eight of the 16 nursing schools have dedicated mid-year intakes, including three of the four Auckland schools. Canterbury was once again the region with the biggest new graduate programme intake and the lowest number of graduates still looking for work.
*Graduates are only eligible for places on NETP (nursing entry to practice) programmes for up to 12 months after completing their degrees. So applications for mid-year NETP places may include nurses who graduated in November last year.
