St Vincent's Registered Nurse Transition Program (RNTP) offers you the opportunity to practice in a supportive environment that will facilitate your transition to the role of Registered Nurse. This will allow you to build upon your knowledge and skills in the delivery of quality patient care and personal development.
Before you commence your RNTP placement you will receive the Transition Program Information guide to gain an understanding of the hospital and the program as part of your preparation.
Many areas will provide learning packages and worksheets to further assist New Graduates orientate to the unit.
You will also be invited to attend uniform fittings in preparation for your start date.
In your first week at St Vincent’s you will attend a comprehensive orientation with our Nurse Education & Development Centre Team.
The orientation period includes presentations, tutorials and practical sessions, and is an opportunity to get to know your fellow nurse graduates.
You will also spend some time in your clinical area getting to meet your colleagues and have a tour through your allocated clinical area.
You will be allocated supernumerary time which will not only help you build familiarity and confidence with clinical skills but also our online patient systems.
At St Vincent's we pride ourselves on helping you have the best start to your nursing career.
The Transition Program Nurse Educator is responsible for the overall running of the Registered Nurse Transition Program across the Network. This includes recruitment and selection for the program, allocation of rotations, facilitation of study days, ensuring completion of competencies and performance development.
Our nursing teams are made up of Transition Program Nurses, junior and senior Registered Nurses (RN), Enrolled Nurses (EN), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), Nurse Unit Managers (NUM) and a Clinical Nurse Educator (CNE).
Each clinical area of St Vincent’s works together slightly differently to meet the needs of their patients and clinical specialties. All members of the nursing team are expected to provide support to one another and work interdependently. On days when you are not working with your Preceptor, other members of staff are available if you require assistance.
Throughout the year you will work closely with multidisciplinary team members which include medical staff, physiotherapists, dieticians, pharmacists, occupational and speech therapists who are familiar with the challenges facing staff who are new to St Vincent's health Network.
A preceptor is an experienced nurse working within a clinical area who acts as a role model and resource person for new nurses.
Each Transition Program Nurse is assigned a preceptor for each rotation.
Your Preceptor can assist in everything from settling into your clinical area, to planning out your skills and helping you achieving them. We encourage and assist you to not only roster yourself with your Preceptor but catch up as often as possible.
The guidelines facilitate the transition of newly graduated nurses into the role of a practicing Registered Nurse. It is recognised that for most RNTP this will be the first time they have worked with rotating shifts.
The guidelines aim to reduce the potential for stress, and ensure that you receive fair and equitable rosters. The guidelines cover issues such as the minimum number of shifts to work supernumerary, minimum time before rotating onto night shift and maximum number of days to work in a row.
The Employee Assistance Program, or EAP (Access Counselling) is a confidential service free to all staff and their immediate families who may require assistance dealing with personal, family or work issues.
Qualified counsellors can assist staff and family members to identify problems and find ways to resolve them.