La Trobe University

Program

As a La Trobe nursing student, you’ll learn from leading clinicians and academics and gain hands-on experience in state-of-the-art simulation labs. Move into real-world environments in hospitals and healthcare agencies in your first year, reaping the benefits of the university’s long-standing partnerships with top-tier health providers like Austin Health, The Royal Women’s Hospital, and Bendigo Health.

By completing La Trobe’s Bachelor of Nursing, you will

• develop a strong foundation in acute care, chronic illness, Indigenous health, mental health, rehabilitation, community and emergency care, biosciences, and research;
• gain in-demand employability skills in leadership, time management, critical thinking and communication, giving you the confidence to make ethical clinical decisions with empathy and compassion;
• tailor your skills with minors in mental health, child, family, and community health or rural health;
• benefit from placements, preparing you to step into employment once you graduate; and
• graduate ready to apply to become a registered nurse (RN) with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

La Trobe’s open access majors and minors mean you could customize your degree with cross-disciplinary studies, work-integrated learning, and study overseas.

Whatever you’re studying, if there’s enough spare credit points in your course structure and room in your timetable, you could choose an open access major or minor from your course’s discipline or a completely different discipline—mix business with science or arts with IT or combine a range of disciplines to design a degree to match your interests and truly find your niche.

Clinical Placements

Facilities in the School of Nursing and Midwifery offer students modern, interactive learning experiences and support the groundbreaking work of La Trobe’s researchers.

Clinical Learning Environments
The school’s clinical learning environments mimic real health care settings. Here, you’ll learn practice-based skills and hands-on practice with equipment. Working alongside clinical experts, you’ll master their skills before you work with real people in clinical placements.

Clinical Schools
La Trobe is very proud of their unique clinical school model. Unlike other nursing schools, La Trobe has dedicated university teaching space on site at key Melbourne metropolitan health services (Alfred Health, Austin Health, Melbourne Health, and Northern Health) where students in their final years will learn. This means that during your final year, you can spend the majority of that year on site at a major Melbourne metropolitan hospital for their teaching and learning, which is conducted in close partnership with the health service and their nursing staff and leaders. This approach aims to reduce the transition that comes with the move to working as a new graduate, helping you to make smooth transitions to your professional working life.

Simulation Laboratories
The university’s simulation laboratories provide an increased level of complexity on their clinical learning environments, enabling you to work in real-life simulated practice scenarios with high-tech manikins.

The facility features 4 wards with 6 beds and 2 single-bed rooms, control and observation capabilities, and video equipment, facilitating skills development and group learning in a range of health contexts.

These facilities develop your clinical decision-making and hands-on skills in responding to changing patient situations in a supportive and safe educational setting, so you can respond appropriately in real-life situations.

Telehealth Training Facility
La Trobe’s telehealth training facilities ensure best practice training for allied health and nursing students, and better equip clinicians undertaking professional development.

The facility features a telehealth audiovisual setup including microphone, cameras, display screens and computers; technology to stream or record video for larger groups of students or professionals; and mobile telehealth hardware to allow for high-quality offsite telehealth consultations.