An innovative nurse education program in the Torres Strait Islands

As the most numerous and geographically dispersed professional group, registered nurses in Australia work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers and other members of the multidisciplinary team in a variety of practice contexts to provide health care to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Despite the introduction of a variety of recruitment and proactive support strategies by employers, universities and State and Commonwealth governments, few Indigenous people in Australia enrol in, and graduate from, entry level higher education courses in the health professions. The reasons for this are complex and, as yet, not well understood or described; however, it is clear that the well-documented execrable health status of Indigenous Australians demands a response from universities, which are largely responsible for the education of health professionals. An innovative model of registered nurse education in the Torres Strait region of Australia is reported in this paper. A satellite campus established by James Cook University (JCU) on Thursday Island delivers the undergraduate nursing course by mixed mode, supplemented by specific strategies designed to improve Indigenous student recruitment and retention and thus increase the likelihood of graduation. The course and the strategies implemented are discussed in this paper.