UTS has a range of Health degrees on offer and, for many, choosing one can be a difficult decision.
What’s the difference?
– The role of a nurse is to provide care for patients in a variety of healthcare settings. Nurses care for those who are unwell or going through an adverse stage in their life and are able to help people maintain health and wellbeing.
Nurses can specialise in areas like emergency, theatre, paediatrics, community and primary care, aged care, mental health care and indigenous health and well-being. The range of core subjects and electives on offer at UTS allow students to tailor their nursing degree and pursue areas of healthcare that are of particular interest to them.
– The role of a midwife is to provide support for women and their families throughout pregnancy, labour and birth, and then for up to six weeks after the birth of a baby.
Midwives consider pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting to be healthy processes that are a normal part of life for many women.
Are nurses and midwives classified differently?
Yes.
– There are two classifications of nurses recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.
They are:
1. Registered Nurse (RN)
2. Enrolled Nurse (EN)
The UTS Bachelor of Nursing prepares you to become a RN. ENs are supervised by RNs and need to have completed an approved qualification.
– For midwives, there is one recognised classification:
1. Registered Midwife (RM)
The UTS Bachelor of Midwifery and Graduate Diploma in Midwifery prepare you to become a RM.
What if I want to do both Nursing and Midwifery?
You can become both a qualified nurse and a qualified midwife within five years at UTS, and it doesn’t matter which degree you start with first.
If you do the Bachelor of Nursing first, you can follow it up with a Graduate Diploma of Midwifery (five years total for both degrees).
And, if you start with the Bachelor of Midwifery, you can follow it with the Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing (also five years total for both degrees).
MidStART – pathway to midwifery
MidStART (Midwifery Student Applications for Recruitment and Training) is a career pathway established by NSW Health to help registered nurses become registered midwives.
The program provides employment for student midwives in NSW public health facilities while they are studying a postgraduate midwifery degree at a recognised university like UTS. This makes it a great opportunity for RNs looking to gain extensive hospital experience while they study.
To be eligible for MidSTART you must:
- be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident; and
- hold current registration as a Registered Nurse (Division 1) with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia at the time of application; and
- be enrolled in a recognised midwifery degree (like the UTS Graduate Diploma of Midwifery).
Applications for MidStART open on an annual basis each June.
Byline: Jack Schmidt
Inside | Out 