Why choose nursing?
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Nursing is a very diverse career choice and involves working with and caring for people of all backgrounds, religions and cultures.
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Nursing is a profession that requires empathy, compassion, communication and teamwork.
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You will use your specialized knowledge and training everyday, to manage the many different rewarding and challenging situations that nursing brings.
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You also need to be able to problem solve, often in challenging situations in a variety of areas such as a person’s home, medical centre, prison, emergency room, retirement home, factory and marae.
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A nurse can earn a competitive salary and work anywhere in the world.
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With your degree, you can also advance your education and can become an independent clinical specialist, work in education, management or policy.
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The variety of opportunities for nurses is endless.
Career Opportunities
The Bachelor of Nursing is a qualification that gives the registered nurse opportunities to work in a wide variety of settings, both nationally and internationally.
Nurses are present across the entire spectrum of health-service delivery and, with over 40,000 registered; they are the largest part of the professional health workforce. The most common image of the nurse is in a hospital ward or general practice, but in reality, nurses are found in a much wider range of health and disability services settings.
There is a nurse at work in child-health services, residential-care facilities, mental-health services, community services, marae, independent-nurse clinics, public-health services, occupational health and safety, the defence forces, sexual-health services, ACC case management, prisons, policy development and implementation, health-service management, education and research – as well as in many other settings.
Becoming a Registered Nurse
Students who successfully complete a Bachelor of Nursing Programme are required to sit the Nursing Council of New Zealand State Final examinations. When these examinations are passed, the student becomes a registered nurse. This qualification enables the graduate to work as a beginning staff nurse in all areas where registered nurses are employed.
Future Opportunities
On becoming a registered nurse, most graduates apply for new graduate programmes, which are run by many of the District Health Boards throughout New Zealand. Many graduates will also go onto complete postgraduate studies in nursing specialities i.e. Mental Health Nursing, Hospice Palliative Care and Primary Health Care. Some graduates will travel overseas, where a Bachelor of Nursing Degree from New Zealand is internationally recognised.