Graduate Diploma in Nursing Pacific
Course details
| NZQF Level | 7 |
|---|
About the course
Afio mai, Ulu tonu mai. Turou oro! Be supported to become a competent and confident registered nurse with the Nursing Council of New Zealand with this programme. Throughout your learning journey you'll integrate your knowledge of Pacific communities, cultural practices and nursing knowledge to improve health outcomes for Pacific peoples and the wider Aotearoa New Zealand community and overseas.
Programme outline
This programme provides an opportunity for Pacific trained nurses to undertake a nursing education programme that allows them to apply to the NCNZ for registration and a practicing certificate to work in Aotearoa New Zealand as a nurse. The programme is informed by Pacific pedagogies and provides an understanding of the various contexts of Pacific health while supporting learners’ cultural capacity to be effective health professionals within a Nursing context. Additionally, the programme positively contributes to the ongoing demand for Pacific Nurses, to better meet and respond to the health needs of Pacific Peoples and communities who are proportionally overrepresented in poor health outcomes and use of the health services.
This programme contributes to the Government objectives to improve Pacific health and education outcomes.
This is a full-time programme and offers a combination of theory i.e. classroom-based sessions (block delivery) at our Whitireia (Porirua) campus, online learning and supported clinical experience (based where you live), which is practical/hands-on work completed in a variety of community and hospital settings.
Target group of learners:
Pacific Island trained nurses who have been registered and have worked in the health sector in their home country and now have permanent residency in Aotearoa New Zealand.
More detail about this qualification
Courses
Semester One
Adopts the Tokelau term of Fakavae, which refers to foundation. This foundational concept reflects the need to provide a sound platform to build cultural, academic and professional identity. The second is Pacific Identity, which allows learners to recognise the importance of this, no matter how strong their positioning is within this context. The third theme is the learner’s journey to becoming a nurse and the importance of embedding knowledge, skills and expertise to enable them to ‘Think like a nurse’.
Semester Two
Adopts the Samoan term Faiā, which signifies upholding respectful relationships, which transcend persona, encompassing within and between professional and community connections. This journey is a progression from the Pacific Identity in semester one, to Pacific Heritage and is inclusive of the professional theme ‘Act like a Nurse’, embedded in semester two.
Semester Three
The themes from Semester One and two are built upon, by adopting the Cook Islands Māori term, Turanga Neti, where Neti is nurse and Turanga refers to the positions, status and responsibilities of the nurse profession. This theme is supported by the other two themes of ‘Pacific Leadership’ and ‘Be a Nurse”.
Teaching and learning
A variety of teaching processes are used in the programme including lectures, tutorials, learning packages, workshops, student presentations, online learning and practical sessions in the simulation suites where ‘hands-on’ skills are learnt and practiced. If there are no timetabled classes, students are expected to use this time working in study teams or on independent study. Students will also be required to complete independent study and work on assignments during weekends and term breaks.
You will be required to attend online sessions when you are not based on campus for tutorials, lectures, and exams.
Clinical
To gain this qualification, students must complete a minimum of 895 hours of clinical experience (praxis). We are proud of the excellent working partnerships we have with our clinical providers, which include Te Whatu Ora Hospitals and private, iwi and community organisations. Their assistance enables us to provide students with a variety of high-quality clinical placements, which allows students to experience the range of opportunities available as a registered nurse.
In semester one, students learn clinical skills in our simulation suites (which are set up like hospital wards), as well as attending off-site clinical experiences in rest homes and the community, of 5 weeks (190hrs).
In semester two students will have 8 (300hrs) clinical weeks each semester; these are divided into blocks of between 2-4 weeks. In semester three students will have 9 weeks (405hrs) which will be one 9 week block.
Clinical weeks may include weekends. Hours during clinical blocks will vary according to the clinical placement, i.e. hospital shifts can include mornings 7:00am–3:30pm, afternoons 2:45–11:15pm and overnight. During clinical, students must be available Monday-Friday.
Career options
Outcomes
Our Nursing qualifications enable graduates to work as a beginning staff nurse in all areas where registered nurses are employed, 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, nurses are found in 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 applies to Nursing Council for registration as a Registered Nurse.
Future opportunities
On becoming a registered nurse, most graduates apply for new graduate programmes, which are run by Health New Zealand. Many graduates will also go on to complete postgraduate studies in nursing specialties 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.
Entry requirements
Applicants must meet both the academic and suitability entry requirements.
Academic entry requirements
Applicants must have permanent residency or approval to study as a domestic student.
Whitireia degree academic entry requirements (i.e. University Entrance) or equivalent.
Evidence of equivalence may include successful completion of high school studies overseas or recent tertiary study at Level 4, with a “B” average, and/or relevant work experience (paid or unpaid); application considered on a case-by-case basis with entry granted at the discretion of the Head of School.
- A Diploma of Nursing (L5) or Bachelor of Nursing (L7) from a Pacific Island nation
- A minimum of two years full-time equivalent work experience as a registered nurse in your home country
- A minimum of two years’ work experience in the health sector in Aotearoa New Zealand
Evidence of suitability based on interview, health screening, safety check and referee reports.
About the provider
Whitireia and WelTec have a history of over 100 years of
vocational education delivery. We are proud stewards of our whakapapa, owning
our collective histories and aspirations for the future through acknowledging
people, place, culture, and values.
Whitireia and WelTec is known for our high student success rates and culturally diverse ākonga. Every year we train over 8,000 ākonga who study at one of our campuses across Porirua and Petone. Our highly skilled staff will be with you every step of your journey, providing the best possible learning environment. We enable learners from every stage of life – school leavers, university graduates, those preparing to reenter the workforce and those wanting to retrain or upskill. Our learning environments are open and ready to welcome you all.
More and more New Zealanders are choosing a local study pathway through dedicated vocational education providers to gain the qualifications they need to get ahead and into their dream job. We offer a range of programmes of study at certificates, diplomas, degrees, and postgraduate qualifications. Our programmes have been developed in conjunction with industry to offer excellent vocational qualifications that are future-focused and provide ākonga with practical skills to pursue their career goals.
We are known for our Ahureitanga (distinctiveness), and we have special relationships with Iwi mana whenua as our campuses are in their rohe: Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. Together, we are more than the sum of our parts.
Mā tātou, mō tātou ko WelTec ki Te Āti Awa, ko Whitireia ki Ngāti Toa Rangatira. E haere kōtui nei me kura-takahi-puni tātou. Together, we will lead and illuminate our communities through vocational education.