Students in Charles Darwin University’s new Graduate Diploma in Midwifery celebrated the end of their course in a special ceremony at Royal Darwin Hospital on Friday.
The Graduate Diploma, the first to use a new model of training introduced 12 months ago, is a partnership between CDU and the NT Government’s Department of Health and Community Services, which has resulted in the creation of the Graduate School for Health Practice.
Acting Health Minister Delia Lawrie congratulated the students on behalf of the NT Government, while Lesley Barclay, Professor of Health Services Development at CDU, welcomed the graduate nurses to the profession.
A total of 13 graduate students have completed their midwifery studies, most of them at Royal Darwin Hospital under a government-funded program that pays them while they gain on-the-job training.
New midwife Paula Medway said she was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be employed as a student midwife while studying for her graduate diploma at CDU.
‘It made all the difference receiving financial support while getting “hands-on” experience within the maternity unit,’ she said.
Five graduates will continue their work at RDH, three have begun work at Alice Springs, one will be based in Katherine and another couple – a male and female partnership – will shortly begin working in the remote community of Wadeye.