Canterbury District Health Board Welcomes Return Of Nursing Students To Placements

Professionals within the CDHB are anticipating the return of 135 Ara Institute and UC nursing students nurses and midwives to clinical practice placements on May the 12th 2020. 26 ‘Competency Assessment Programme (CAP)’ students will also be starting their 6-week clinical placements in mid-July. The re-commencement of student placements means that the Board’s ‘pipeline’ of qualified staff will be continue to be replenished after the COVID-19 hiatus.

The Canterbury Health System - predominantly the Canterbury DHB – will be counting on the efforts of its existing clinical teams and of the RN and EN students who must work hard to catch up and complete their programme in order to be ready to sit their State Finals in July, after which they will become Registered Nurses.

During the lock-down period, a number of Ara Bachelor of Nursing year two and three students have given their assistance to staff within the Aged Residential Care sector. Mary Gordon, Executive Director of Nursing at the Canterbury District Health Board, expressed her appreciation, saying “we were extremely grateful to the students who stepped up, and hugely appreciate their professionalism, care and compassion towards residents and their families in their time of greatest need.”

Ms. Gordon adds “We were very proud to be working alongside these students and could not have managed these past few challenging weeks without them.”

Ms. Gordon also had a very positive response to the contribution of Ara tutors who also volunteered, approaching the Board’s ECC COVID-19 staffing team to see how they could help. Ms. Gordon noted “This shows the wonderful partnership we have with education and practice teams working together in times of emergency and response.”

Dr. Glynnis Brook, Acting Head of Department – Health Practice, is also pleased to see health learners from other areas of practice return to their studies. “There is a lot of work happening at the moment to get our midwifery and medical imaging students back in place and we’re really looking forward to seeing their professional development and work towards their qualification and registration continue.”

© Scoop Media