Career pathways
Working in health offers a huge range of exciting and challenging
opportunities for people who are passionate about making a difference.
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Nursing
Optional career paths for nurses in New Zealand include competent,
proficient and expert registered nurses, district and public health
nurses, research nurses, nurse educators, nurse specialists, clinical
nurse leaders and nurse practitioners where you have prescribing rights. |
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There are no restrictions on professional and career development opportunities if you are passionate about clinical, research and education and management
branches of nursing practice.
Facts about nursing in New Zealand:
- Women comprise 90.5 percent of the registered nursing workforce
- New Zealand has 841 registered nurses per 100,000 population
- 35.4 percent of actively registered nurses and midwives are between 40 and 49 years old.
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Medicine
Senior and junior medical staff from all speciality areas are welcomed.
Most house officer and senior house officer jobs in New Zealand work on the basis of four 13-week runs each year.
There is a wide spectrum of approaches to the training and supervision of registrars and senior house officers. Some examples of training programmes include:
- Journal Club
- morbidity/mortality meetings
- combined ward rounds
- case review meetings
- audit sessions
- supervised clinics
- Grand Round.
Midwifery
In New Zealand midwives may be self-employed as lead maternity carers, employed by DHBs to provide a continuity-of-care service; or employed by DHBs to provide 24-hour rostered shift cover in a maternity facility.
Seventy percent of all pregnant women in New Zealand now have a midwife as their lead maternity carer. The maternity service in New Zealand underwent massive change in the last decade and these changes continue. The outcomes for women having total midwifery care are excellent and the perinatal mortality rate has never been lower.
Our midwives provide support to lead maternity carers and specialist services.
Allied Health
In New Zealand other health professionals who contribute to the assessment, care and treatment of patients/clients are known as allied health professionals. This care occurs in many settings such as a patient/client’s home, schools or work places, community clinics or in hospital inpatient or outpatient environments.
Career path opportunities for allied health professionals may include
clinical specialist, clinical generalist, management and leadership,
project work, teaching and research, consultant/advisor, health policy
and planning and health promotion and education.
Allied health professionals have varying qualification and
registration requirements.
This group of health professionals includes:
- Alcohol and Drug Clinicians
- Anaesthetic Technicians
- Audiologists
- Audiometrists
- Biomedical Technicians
- Cardiopulmonary Technicians
- Cardiac, Respiratory and Sleep Technologists
- Play Specialists
- Community Health Workers
- Counsellors
- Dental Technicians/Therapists
- Dietitians
- ECG Technicians
- Health Promotion/Protection Officers
- Medical Laboratory Technologists/Scientists
- Medical Photographers
- Medical Physicists
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- Medical Radiation Technologists
- Neurodevelopmental Therapists
- Occupational Therapists
- Orthoptists
- Orthotist Technicians
- Pharmacists
- Phlebotomist
- Physiotherapists
- Podiatrists
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Radiation Therapists
- Renal Dialysis Technicians
- Scientific Officers
- Social Workers
- Sonographers
- Speech Language Therapists
- Vision Hearing Technicians
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Mental Health
Integrated services within hospital and community settings and
cover areas are acute inpatient care, community, specialist (e.g.
eating disorders), rehabilitation, child and adolescent and services
for older people. |
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Waikato DHB is committed to providing clinical supervision and ongoing
professional development opportunities to our teams of highly qualified
professionals. These opportunities include core training in areas such
as de-escalation, debriefing, defusing and recovery principles, Treaty
of Waitangi and other courses. There are also discipline
specific forums for networking and training within ones professional
group.
We have strong links with tertiary institutions and
work closely with them to enhance skill development and offer
educational opportunities to staff.
Regional Mental Health and Addictions Network
This
network provides support to health professionals in the mental health
and addictions services provided by DHBs in the Midland region of New
Zealand. The sector has separate funding that is specifically
designated to provide more and better mental health and addictions
services.
As a mental health professional no matter which
service you work in within the region you will enjoy being connected to
and supported by:
- national, regional and local training and development opportunities
- innovation and leading practice
- annual regional conference and publications
- managers, funders and frontline workers who are committed to the regional vision of “Living well with supportive systems”.
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Information Services
Information technology plays a vital role in the New Zealand health sector. Careers range from help desk services through to business analysts, IS engineers and architects, programme and project management and senior management positions.
All new Waikato DHB staff get Information Technology Infrastructure Library training and IT staff are encouraged and supported in their ongoing development in their technical teams through support and funding of certificated training and niche skill training.
Student placement opportunities
We are strongly committed to teaching and the support of our undergraduate students as our future workforce. Many of our disciplines are actively involved with universities providing specialist input into training and we welcome students in a range of disciplines on both our hospital and community-based sites.
Please send all enquiries for undergraduate medical electives to Raewyn Wooderson at the Waikato Clinical School, phone
(07) 839 8750 or email
woodersr@waikatodhb.govt.nz
