The HUGE healthcare jobs boom. How can you skill up?

Cara McDonell often pinches herself ....she loves her job. She’s in surgery most days assisting with instrument preparation. It can take as little as six months to reskill for a job in healthcare. This is her story.

“Today was really interesting, we had a caesarean, a laparoscopic surgery and a gall bladder operation.” smiles Cara, who works as an instrument nurse at Mona Vale hospital. If you’d tried to tell her she’d be doing this just a few short years ago, whilst working in a shop with no formal qualifications to her name, she would have called you mad!

“I realised I loved healthcare when a friend got me a part time job as a wardsman…..wheeling beds between theatres.” Says Cara. “ I knew, then, I wanted to go further.”

“From there I discovered that the local college, NBMC (Northern Beaches & Mosman College) were running 6 month courses (2 nights a week) to qualify as a Nursing Assistant. It was convenient and close to home so I enrolled straight away.”

"It ended up being a such great introduction to healthcare. A real mix of people enrolled…aged 18 through to 50…..but together we had a real laugh.

The trainer, Jo, was professional, supportive and approachable and (most importantly) gave me a job reference. I discovered really great job opportunities can come from this course."

The types of jobs available after studying one of the two Health Assistant courses on offer are: Assistants in Nursing, Dental, Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy, Podiatry.…the list goes on. (See end of article for more detail.)

Cara didn’t stop there however. She always planned to use her skills as a stepping stone to bigger things.

“I did a second stint of study (12 months of enrolled nursing) to become an instrument nurse and my next goal was becoming a registered nurse!”

Statistics (ABS) predict the healthcare and nursing industry will be booming for the next 30 years. This means people like Cara are pretty smart to skill up now.

Her advice? "If you’re not happy with your job, make a change, study something you love. Even though I left school at 16 the challenge was worth it. This industry has many avenues and my career here will last a lifetime."

If you are interested in more information check out the courses below:

• View HLT33115 Certificate III in Health Services Assistance course details here.
• View HLT33015 Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance course details here.

Written by Virginia Mounsey, March 2018 (advertorial)