What is a Diploma of Nursing?

A diploma of nursing is the minimum qualification required for working in a hospital or other health care environment as a nurse. Being enrolled means that you’re able to work in an Australian organisation as a nurse in a team, but not lead teams or work unsupervised, so many employees complete their bachelor of nursing, to make them a registered nurse, while working as an enrolled nurse.

This means that you can get working faster, gaining experience and practising nursing skills while working towards your final qualification.

While studying the Diploma of Nursing, you may learn about several areas, including:

  • Working with patients in aged care
  • How to treat patients in a variety of work environments
  • Treating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients
  • Ethical parameters in nursing
  • How to create nursing care plans
  • How to determine the physical health status of patients
  • The most effective ways to deliver primary health care
  • Gathering health information from patients
  • Completing clinical placement
  • The differences between a clinical environment and other health care settings
  • How the Australian health care system operates
  • How mental health conditions impact patients
  • The principles of wound management
  • How chronic health problems affect patients
  • Control policies of different health care organisations
  • How to deliver immunisations and other crucial nursing skills
  • First aid
  • Qualifying with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
  • Building communication skills for patients who have difficulty comprehending speech or the English language
  • The complex needs of a variety of patients

Why study an HLT54115 Diploma of Nursing?

A Diploma of Nursing is compulsory for any student who wants to practice nursing in a professional environment. Understanding all of the above-listed skills, as well as understanding why direct client care is crucial to the health and wellbeing of those with acute health problems, emergency health needs and more, is compulsory for those looking to be nurses. In Australia, if you’ve completed your diploma here, you should be able to go and complete your bachelor of nursing in Melbourne, Queensland, NSW or any other Australian city or state, as generally, the skills are nationally transferable. At that point, you’ll be able to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (NMBA)
A Diploma of Nursing Division 2 will also require you to complete a clinical assessment, proving to employees that you’re ready to work.
International students should check that they’re eligible for a Diploma of Nursing through CRICOS, as well as checking about English language skill requirements for individual courses.

How to study

Entry requirements for nursing are generally basic literacy and numeracy skills, as nurses need to be able to enquire about a patients health and wellbeing, and advise medication, height and weight measurements etc. Most courses can be taught as either full time or part-time courses, through a TAFE or other Vocational Education and Training (VET) school.

For further information about elective units, tuition fees, VET student loans in Victorian and other Australian states, and how enrolled-division 2 courses differ from other courses, enquire about a specific course listed above!