EIT Hawke’s Bay nursing degree students have achieved an impressive clean sweep in the Nursing Council of New Zealand state exams sat at the end of last year.

A large class of 37 students gained a 100 percent pass rate – all sitting the exam for the first time.

EIT’s Bachelor of Nursing programme coordinator Judy Searle says the achievement reflects the calibre of the School of Nursing and its staff.

“It also shows how valuable the practicum venues are,” she said of the environments in which students develop their clinical practice skills.  Bachelor of Nursing students spend a minimum of 1100 hours during their programme in clinical practice under the guidance of lecturers and other registered nurses.

Thirty-two of the 37 November graduands are known to have found positions as registered nurses – an 84 percent strike rate.  The other five could not be contacted.

Ms Searle said most were employed locally.

“At least 28 in that class had secured positions before they sat their state exam and were to take them up once they had been registered as nurses.”

Supportive of EIT’s Bachelor of Nursing programme, the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board had employed 16 students from the intake. 
   
While there was a perception that graduating nurses left immediately to work abroad, only four of November’s graduands reported plans to travel overseas at the time they sat their state exams. All of these had secured jobs in Australia.

Historically “nurses are in demand in New Zealand and world-wide, although there have been brief periods when this trend hasn’t been evident.

“But given the current shortage of nurses nationally and internationally, we anticipate all recent Bachelor of Nursing graduates seeking employment should be successful.”

Ms Searle said the national shortage of nurses was particularly apparent in Auckland.  In 2008, nursing directors there had reported an immediate need for 1000 new graduates a year.