• Whether you’re starting out or looking to move ahead in nursing, whether you want to be an AIN or nurse manager, a qualification is your ticket to entering the profession and moving your career forward.
• There are wide range of nursing courses available to suit your career needs. And while most nursing courses involve an element of hands-on experience via clinical work placement, many programs can now be completed largely by distance education.
• While studying a nursing course, you have different levels of qualification to aim for that roughly equate to different levels of responsibility.
• When it comes to the clinical side of things,
• Assistants in Nursing (AINs) – which include Aged Care Workers (ACWs), Personal Care Assistants (PCAs), Health Services Assistants (HSAs) and Care Support Employees (CSEs) – essentially work under the direction and supervision of a Registered Nurse (RN), assisting in the performance of nursing duties.
• There are Enrolled Nurse – a second level nurse who works under an RN, but with greater responsibility than an AIN.
• Next up is the Registered Nurse, of which there are several different kinds specialising in areas such as paediatrics, mental health, disabilities, acute care and community care.