“Recruitment and retention of nurses in the primary health care workforce will play an increasingly important role in ensuring our health care system can meet the complexities of ever increasing demands. There is a projected shortfall of primary health care nurses due to high exit rates and low numbers of workforce entrants.

Although there is an impending shortage of nurses there is currently an increasing rate of unemployment within the nursing profession overall. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 9,100 registered nurses and midwives in Australia were unemployed – a 102% increase from 2011.1 With this in mind, innovative strategies are needed to address recruitment and retention issues in the primary health care nursing workforce to ensure our communities continue to receive high quality care from a well-supported and engaged nursing workforce.

It is clear that new nursing graduates cannot be absorbed into the acute sector alone. There are some possible solutions, however, and one of these lies with the primary health care sector. This sector does have workforce capacity but urgent steps are needed to increase recruitment and retention within this area of health care. Transition to Practice programs are one strategy for promoting recruitment and retention.

The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) received funding from the Australian Government Department of Health under the Nursing in Primary Health Care Program to test and model an accessible, flexible and structured process to increase the confidence, skills and knowledge of nurses commencing work in primary health care settings. The anticipated outcome of the program will be to improve employment opportunities, recruitment and retention of nurses in primary health care settings.

A Transition to Practice Pilot Program (TPPP) has been developed as a 12 month workplace-based program to facilitate transition into practice. The Program is being delivered in two tranches over two years with two cohorts – nurses recently graduated from Australian universities, and experienced nurses from other health care settings who are seeking to successfully integrate into primary health care work environments.

Tranche one of the TPPP commenced in April 2016 and involves assessment of knowledge and skills, tailored formal education and both professional and clinical guidance (through preceptorship and mentorship).

Applications for Tranche two will open at the end of October 2016 and will commence in April 2017. More information can be found at http://www.apna.asn.au/transitiontopractice

1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Nursing and midwifery workforce [homepage on the internet]. c2014. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/workforce/nursing-and-midwifery.”

Lisa Collison is the project manager for the Transition to Practice Pilot Program at the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) She is an experienced Registered Nurse who has worked for more than 25 years in the primary health care sector, in both clinical and leadership roles, whilst enjoying a variety of culturally diverse demographic settings.

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