Our Graduate Programs provide a supportive environment in the transition from student to confident and competent independent practitioner. Our programs are flexible, allowing us to meet individual needs whilst providing the knowledge and experience to form the base of a successful and rewarding career. We value our graduates as part of the Peninsula Health team.
The Graduate Nurse Program is a 12-month program commencing annually in February. A small mid-year intake is also planned. Full time (including ADO) and part time positions are available. Graduates complete three, four-month clinical rotations. We offer rotations at Frankston and Rosebud Hospitals, Golf Links Road and The Mornington Centre. Nurses in our graduate program submit preferences which enables us to build a program of rotations to suit individual career goals – possibilities include rehabilitation, acute wards, Critical Care, geriatric evaluation and management, perioperative services and more.
General Information
The Graduate Nurse Program is a 12-month program with an intake in January and June. This program provides graduate nurses with a permanent position at Peninsula Health allowing graduates to apply for their areas of preference for ongoing employment after the program. Graduates can choose to work eight or nine days per fortnight or fulltime (with ADO).
The program includes:
3 x 4 month rotations providing graduate the opportunity to request areas of preference
Orientation program
Supernumerary time on commencement of all rotations
Annual leave as accrued
4 x Graduate study days
Regular short in-service education sessions
Online learning modules
Advanced skills available such as IV cannulation, PICC management,
7 day rotating roster
Support
We support our graduates’ development through a team of excellent educators.
Graduate coordinators
Graduate nurse educators
Clinical support nurses
Preceptor allocated for all rotations
Senior support from NUM/ANUM’s and clinical nurse specialists
Regular debrief sessions face to face and online
Team App for instant messaging and communication
Employee Assistance Program
Areas available for rotation
Neurological medicine
Respiratory medicine
General medicine
Orthopaedics
Plastics
General surgery
Oncology
Palliative care
Emergency
Child and Adolescent unit
Operating suite
Cardiac care
Outpatients
Haemodialysis
Hospital in the Home
Chemotherapy
Infusion centre
Rehabilitation
Subacute
Graduate Nurse Program – Mental Health & Mixed Mental Health/General Nursing
The Mental Health Program offers new graduates the opportunity to develop the clinical and interpersonal skills to promote the wellbeing of individuals in the exciting field of mental health. Graduate Nurses are offered an initial one-year contract to facilitate completion of the first year of the Graduate Diploma in Nursing (Mental Health). Graduate Nurses will experience inpatient units within the first year and a community mental health clinical area or inpatient mental health or nursing clinical area (combined program) during the second year of the program (progression to second year is dependent on satisfactory completion of first year both academically and clinically).
Each Graduate Nurse will have the opportunity to participate in individual clinical supervision with experienced mental health clinicians and in-group reflective practice sessions to assist with professional growth through reflective practice.
General Information
Mental Health nursing is an exciting, dynamic and fascinating area of nursing. It requires a combination of specialised knowledge, reflection, clinical and interpersonal skills to promote a client’s wellbeing and recovery. Peninsula Health provides a wide diversity of small but varied services.
The Graduate year at Peninsula Health offers experiential learning opportunities, which will provide Graduates with credit towards their Masters of Mental Health nursing.
The duration of the program is 12 months, with an intake in January and July. The graduate position is an ongoing permanent part time at 0.8 or 8 shifts a fortnight and the graduate nurse will accrue 4 weeks of Annual Leave to use during your graduate year.
All Mental Health Graduate Nurses complete two rotations of 6 months in any of the areas;
Acute Adult Inpatient Unit 2W
Acute Aged Inpatient Unit 1W
Access and Assessment Team (AAT)
Consultation Liaison Inpatient Psychiatry Service (CLIPS)
Youth Prevention and Recovery Centre (YPARC)
Psychiatric Assessment and Planning Unit (PAPU)
Adult Prevention and Recovery Centre (APARC)
Intensive Recovery Team (IRT)
Carinya
Community Care Units (CCU)
Mixed Mental Health and General Graduate Program
If you are interested in Mental Health and General Nursing, you are able to apply for the mixed graduate program. This program has 2×6 month rotations, one rotation in Mental Health and one rotation in General Nursing. If you are interested in both Mental Health and General Nursing Graduate program you will need to apply for and interview for both programs and put your preferences as the one you want more.
Support Provided
Professional Development
During your graduate year you will be supported by a large group of clinicians, you will have a preceptor that you will work with throughout each rotation and they will be able to support you with ward specific questions. Graduate nurses will be matched with a Clinical supervisor and it is an expectation that graduates will participate in clinical supervision session throughout the year.
Graduates will also be able to attend fortnightly debrief sessions throughout the year and the Early in Career team will also meet up with graduates on a regular basis to see how the graduate is going. The education team is also contactable at any time via email, Microsoft Teams online messaging app, and phone or by visiting the Mental Health Learning Hub office which is based at Frankston hospital.
Continuing education
Our Orientation program is an 8-day program spread out over two weeks. The program consists of a 4-day orientation to Peninsula Health Mental Health services involving online mandatory education, information sessions and face-to-face training sessions. Then the GN will spend 4 supernumerary days in clinical areas. For all subsequent rotations there will be 2-4 supernumerary days as needed.
You will also have the Early in Career educators and Graduate Nurse Coordinator to help provide regular education sessions, during the graduate year there are 9 study days that cover a range of topics to help with your graduate year. They will involve a mixture of learning styles including online and face-to-face learning.
All Mental Health Graduates must be eligible for and enrolled in post graduate studies, a Masters of Mental Health.
During the graduate year at Peninsula Health, there will be assessment tasks that the graduate nurse will need to complete. The completion of all clinical placement time, a Clinical Portfolio and all assessment items during the Graduate year will enable application for Advanced Standing towards the Post Graduate Diploma with Universities linked to Peninsula Health. Peninsula Health has associations with Monash university, RMIT, La Trobe University and Federation University.
Contact details
Name: Samantha Cullinan
Position: Mental Health Graduate Nurse Coordinator
Graduate Midwife Program – Midwifery only & Midwifery/Nursing Streams
The Graduate Midwife Program is a 12-month program structured to enable both single-degree Midwifery and double degree Midwifery/Nursing Graduates to consolidate their respective knowledge and skills. Graduates will rotate through all areas of the Women’s Health Unit, Women’s Services and Special Care Nursery. A three-month rotation within a general medical/surgical ward enables combined-stream graduates to consolidate their nursing knowledge and skills.
General Information
Length of program
12-month graduate program.
Intake
One intake in February 2023.
EFT
Minimum 0.8EFT to 1.0EFT to complete the program.
Rotations
Rotations include Women’s Services, birthing suite, inpatients unit, Special Care Nursery, and a nursing rotation for double degree candidates.
ARL
Annual leave is accrued and can be taken during your maternity rotations.
Orientation
Three days orientation are given at the start of the program. One day corporate orientation and two days midwifery specific orientation is provided.
Supernumerary days
Two shifts per rotation are offered as supernumerary time.
Support Provided
Midwifery Education team: Graduate Midwives are well supported throughout their program headed by the Clinical Midwifery Educator Graduate Coordinator, with a team of Clinical Midwife Educators and Clinical Support Midwives.
Clinical Support Midwives: Clinical Support Midwives are rostered onto a morning, day and afternoon shift from Monday to Friday, and a day shift on Saturday, providing support and assistance to graduates during the shift. Clinical Support Midwives also rotate onto the graduates first night duty fortnight, providing assistance during that transition.
Multidisciplinary Team: you will experience being a part of the multidisciplinary team during the graduate program, working with clinical staff, senior staff, Associate Midwife Unit Managers and the Midwife Unit Manager.
Microsoft Teams: Graduate midwives are added into the Peninsula Health Graduate Midwife Microsoft Teams channel, allowing 24/7 contact with colleagues in your graduate program cohort and members of the education team.
Continuing education
Orientation: Three days orientation are given at the start of the program. One day corporate orientation and two days midwifery specific orientation is provided.
Mandatory training: The online Learning Management System provides graduates access to the mandatory training to be completed.
Study days: Five study days are provided throughout the program.
Education sessions: Practical sessions are provided during the program and run by Clinical Support Midwives, as well as in-services.
Peninsula Health provides a number of opportunities for Occupational Therapy graduates across the health service.
Our general rotation program offers 14 rotations across acute, subacute and community including three mental health rotations. These positions are permanent with many graduates completing many of the 6 month rotations prior to progressing to grade two positions. Specialties within the rotation include orthopaedics, neurology, rehabilitation, geriatric evaluation and management and adult mental health.
The Mental Health service also now offers three 12 month graduate positions with a dedicated educator role to support your accelerated learning and career progression.
Permanent grade one positions are also offered in Hand Therapy, Children’s services, Transition Care and Community Outreach programs.
With excellent supervision and support in all our grade one positions your career will be off to a great start at Peninsula Health.
Speech Pathology
Peninsula Health offers opportunities for Speech Pathology graduates as well as those with post graduate clinical experience across grades.
With a range of inpatient and community based speech pathology services available to adults and children at Peninsula Health, we offer multiple employment options and welcome your interest about joining our team of 50+ speech pathologists.
With individualised clinical supervision and support for continual learning and advancement within a friendly team, consider Peninsula Health as your next career move.
The Mental Health service at Peninsula Health now offers several 12-24 month positions for early career psychologists working towards achieving an endorsement in either Clinical Psychology or Clinical Neuropsychology.
These graduate positions are supported with individual and group supervision opportunities, a dedicated psychology educator and rotational opportunities through mental health services to facilitate achievement of core competencies, as well as providing a strong foundation for your learning and career progression.
Peninsula Health provides a number of opportunities for Social Work graduates across the health service. Social Workers are valued members of multi-disciplinary teams, providing comprehensive services to community members of all ages.
The Social Work Department’s Grade 1 Social Work program offers 14 rotations across acute, subacute and community settings including the Alcohol and Other Drugs and Advanced Care Planning teams. Each rotation is 6 months duration and Grade 1s are invited to identify their preferred rotations to match their learning goals.
Specialties within the rotations include gerontological social work, women’s & children’s, general medical, cardiology, surgical, rehabilitation & palliative care, geriatric evaluation, alcohol and other drug support & advanced care planning. These rotations are supported by a seminar series, supporting you to learn in a group environment and make connections between theory and practice.
Graduate positions are also offered in the Peninsula Health Mental Health Service. The program is 12 months in duration with rotations across inpatient and residential mental health settings. Graduates are supported by a dedicated Social Work educator and have protected time to support accelerated learning.
Successful completion of this graduate program will be accompanied by opportunities to transition into permanent positions within Peninsula Health. Intake occurs in March for the three graduate positions available.
All Social Workers receive clinical supervision and additionally are supported via escalation processes that promote the development of clinical skills and sound decision making.
Positions suitable for graduate Social Workers become available throughout the year, visit us at https://peninsula.mercury.com.au/ to view available positions.
Physiotherapy
Peninsula Health offers a supportive environment for those commencing their career in physiotherapy. Our grade 1 program offers 17 rotations across the acute, subacute, and community settings.
Grade 1s in our rotational program undertake 4 monthly rotations within clinical areas of ICU and cardiorespiratory, neurology, orthopaedics, gerontology, rehabilitation, acute outpatients and chronic disease management. Each rotation is supported by a framework for developing knowledge and acquiring skills. Grade 1s are invited to submit their preferences for each rotation to assist them in meeting their learning goals.
The team at Peninsula Health ensures regular support and supervision as well as the opportunity to grow and develop your physiotherapy skills. There is encouragement to undertake research and quality activities, professional development and continuing education with the Physiotherapy Department providing a friendly environment and a supportive workplace culture.
Positions suitable for graduate Physiotherapists become available throughout the year, visit us at https://peninsula.mercury.com.au/ to view available positions.
Podiatry
Peninsula Health offers a supportive program for Podiatry graduates to start their career. Graduate podiatrist undertake a two year program, completing rotations in acute and subacute hospitals, high risk foot clinic, paediatrics, community health, residential aged care and within our NDIS team.
Graduates receive regular supervision from expert clinicians and are supported by a structured buddy system. Graduates will also benefit from our endorsed scheduled medicine mentoring program.