Professional Experience Placement

The recently published Health Workforce Australia series on nursing provides useful insights about the structure of the nursing workforce that has implications for high quality clinical supervision and supervisors. In 2011, 4.4% of the registered nurse workforce were classified as teachers or educators (n=9612).

The changes in nursing role between 2003 to 2009 indicate their was a 37% increase in the number of nurses that were identified as lecturer, educator or supervisor. The report detailed that educators worked an average of 35 hours per week third only to nurses in management (39 hours) or mental health nursing (36hours). Most clinical placement days occur within the public sector (68%).

The report indicated that 11% of nurses and were male and also 11% of nurses in eduction were male. The average age of registered nurses was 44.1 years with 21.6 % aged over 55 years of age.

The report indicated that since 2002 increasing the number of nursing professionals was a national priority. During this time the number of registrants nearly doubled (90%). This has created pressure within the professional experience environment and accounts for the rise in nurses indicating they are educators or supervisors of students. The report provides a précis of the opportunities and weaknesses of the strategy to increase clinical placement opportunities. Pressures cited included limited infrastructure, insufficient resources including lack of student accommodation; insufficient supervisory capacity or a culture among providers that clinical training placements can be burdensome and not their responsibility.

If you have any comments about this report or the implications for clinical supervision you can post them here.