IF you're thinking of taking the next step in your nursing career, then taking the trip from Canberra to Sydney could just well be the start of a new journey.
Just ask Juliane Samara, nurse care coordinator at Canberra Hospital's Capital Region Cancer Service.
After completing her graduate certificate in cancer and haematology nursing at Sydney Nursing School at the University of Sydney, it made sense for Samara to transfer to the school's Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) program.
''In the context of reviewing our services and models of care for the Day Therapy Unit and our new Integrated Cancer Centre, I wanted to progress to a nurse practitioner role that would give me an expanded scope of practice and enable me to provide patients with more holistic and streamlined care,'' she said.
Samara is one of a number of nurses from Canberra who travel to Sydney Nursing School for a couple of weeks each semester.
There she enjoys the face-to-face interaction with their fellow nurse practitioner students and academic staff.
''Finding the balance between a full-time job and studying is certainly tricky but I am constantly learning and applying my new knowledge to my clinical practice,'' she said.
Samara has also been very impressed by the quality of academic staff.
''The level of support from academic staff has been extremely helpful,'' she said.
The Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) program is one of seven advanced learning specialty programs offered at Sydney Nursing School.
The program requires students to have completed a graduate certificate in their chosen speciality, have a minimum of three years as a registered nurse, with a minimum of two years practice in a speciality area and a minimum of one year advanced practice experience prior to commencement of the course.
Registered nurses can also choose from a new and revised suite of programs, including cancer and haematology nursing, clinical nursing, clinical trials practice, emergency nursing, intensive care nursing and mental health nursing.
There is an option to take a research stream within any of these specialty degrees for students to develop their research skills and as a pathway into the PhD program at Sydney Nursing School.
■ For more information, visit sydney.edu.au/nursing
