'Life-changing' $50m scholarship to get nurses and midwives upskilled

It's why the La Trobe University student said she would definitely apply for a new government-funded scholarship which would help registered nurses and midwives become nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives in primary and aged care settings.

"I've always planned to do nursing and then go on to be maybe a nurse practitioner or to do medicine," she said.

"This scholarship that they're offering to us would be an amazing incentive for me to go and upskill my scope of practice and work as a nurse practitioner and do this extra study.

"It would mean that I'd have less financial burden, less of a HECS debt, and it would just be really more of an incentive to go do it."

Assistant Health and Aged Care Minister Ged Kearney visited La Trobe University's Bendigo campus on Monday, May 6, to announce the new $50.2 million scholarship, which would see 1850 postgraduate students upskill in the health system.

Ms Kearney said the scholarships were designed for people who had been put off furthering their studies due to the financial burden.

"We know that a lot of people undertaking these courses that are postgraduate in nature have real financial barriers to doing the course," she said.

"They may have families, they may have mortgages, they may have to leave their home towns where they have jobs to go and do clinical placements.

"All of these things cost a lot of money, and it's a huge consideration ... so these scholarships will go a long way to making sure that nurses and midwives can get that advanced practice skills and they can go out into the community."

Ms Birtles said she was excited by the opportunity to be funded to increase her scope of practice.

Once she becomes a registered nurse, Ms Birtles would be assigned to a hospital or aged care, delivering primary health care.

Becoming a nurse practitioner would equip her with the skills to assess patient needs, diagnose disease, prescribe medication and create treatment plans.

"I want to help people as much as I can," she said.

"[Rurally] there is such an uneven distribution of health professionals, so knowing that I can help this without necessarily having to refer to a specialist in certain aspects would be amazing.

Fellow student Lily Davidson said she was excited experienced nurses, such as her mum, had the chance to upskill after being in the workforce for a while.

"My mum's the best nurse I know, but I know that's something she would be interested in doing," she said.

"But as a mum of three and not living close to any universities or anything, having a scholarship to further her study and do that extra work as a nurse practitioner would be life-changing for her.

"It doesn't just have to be students that are studying now. They can be as far out of school as they want and really just dip back in and provide the skills that we need."

The scholarship program would be managed by the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, which would establish an advisory group to try and get scholarships awarded where they were needed - in remote and rural areas and to First Nations students.

"As the peak body for nurse practitioners, we are very proud to lead the Primary Care Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship Program to help further the education of nurses and midwives towards the advanced and autonomous roles we need to improve the health of Australian people," ACNP chief executive Leanne Boase said.