The Australian Government will fund up to 20,000 new online education places to enable Registered Nurses (RNs) to develop knowledge enabling them to assist in the delivery of care in intensive care and high dependency units across Australia.
The online training will allow experienced RNs to be used to maximum effect in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This will support a doubling in the number of intensive care beds in Australian hospitals, to meet the projected demand caused by COVID-19.
Up to $4.1 million will be provided to e-learning provider, Medcast to provide the critical care education program free of charge to participants.
The e-learning platform will deliver online learning modules that will assist currently employed RNs' to develop their knowledge, so they can assist in high dependency and intensive care units.
Registered nurses comprise the largest health care occupation. In 2018, there were around 276,000 RNs in Australia.
Despite swift action by Australian governments, the number of COVID-19 cases will continue to grow. It is likely that unprecedented demand for hospital care will strain our health system and health workers, who every day are saving and improving lives.
RNs interested in undertaking the training should visit https://medcast.com.au/surge-critical-care or contact Medcast by phone on 1300 652 046.
The Australian Government has also funded an online refresher course to allow RNs who are not currently in clinical practice to update their knowledge to re-join the health workforce. See www.acn.edu.au/education/cpd-online/refresher-program-for-registered-nurses
