An Analysis of Nursing Education Systems: Australia and UK

This report provides a comparative analysis of nursing education in Australia and the United Kingdom. It examines key aspects such as educational structures, including the shift to graduate-level programs and the requirements for Continued Professional Development (CPD). The report also contrasts the regulatory bodies, nursing work-life balance, and healthcare rankings of the two countries. Furthermore, it explores workforce shortages, job opportunities, and nurse-to-patient ratios, highlighting significant differences and similarities. The conclusion summarizes the main disparities, focusing on the timing of graduate program implementation and CPD requirements, while noting the similarities in professional regulations, work-life balance, and professional qualifications. The report references several studies to support its findings.

Running head: NURSING EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND UK 1
Comparison of Nursing Education Between Australia and UK
Student’s Name
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NURSING EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND UK 2
Comparison of Nursing Education Between Australia and UK
Working in the UK is a common thing to Australian nurses and similarly UK nurses are
comfortably working in Australia. The similarities and differences in the healthcare models,
nursing job opportunities, cost of living and the language of communication between the two
countries compare. The move to compare nursing studies in the two countries comes from the
fact that Ausmed has recently become an associate member of the Commonwealth Nurses and
Midwives Federation. This will provide a good ground for comparison from the various nursing
categories. Also, from international ranking Australia is the third most popular student
destination from the US and UK making UK the best country to base our comparison on. This
paper will compare nursing studies in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Firstly, as regard to educational structure, nursing in Australia has been a graduate
profession since 1990 requiring nurses to be holders of a bachelor’s degree. They are also
required to complete at least 20 hours of Continued Professional Development (CPD) as part of
their annual registration renewal. The UK nursing studies on the other hand became a graduate
profession in 2013, requiring graduates to complete 35 hours of CPD (Bartlet et al., 2014).
However, contrary to Australia where this is an annual requirement, the 35 hour of CPD in the
UK can be spread across a period of three years since the last validation date.
Secondly, nurses from the two countries are regulated by a nursing body. UK nurses are
regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and this goes hand in hand with an
annual practicing fee. Nurses wishing to transfer their registration to another country are subject
to a registration transfer fee. Nurses in Australia are regulated by Nursing and Midwifery Board
of Australia with an annual practicing fee. Those wishing to transfer their registration are also
allowed to do so at a fee (Tucker et al., 2015).

NURSING EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND UK 3
When it comes to work- life balance, nurses in the UK work for about 38 hours in a week
while those in Australia work for approximately 40 hours in a week. In both, the weekly shifts
are spread between days, nights and weekends. In the UK, overtime is paid at a standard rate
while in Australia, overtime rates vary between time-and-a-half to triple times (Kause et al.,
2014).
With regard to health care rankings, Australian nursing studies is ranked as the 9th of the
best healthcare systems in the world based on World Health Organization (WHO) while the UK
holds number 18 of the best healthcare systems. The difference could be accounted for by the
fact that, nursing studies has been a graduate thing in Australia for decades as compared to the
recently upgraded studies in the UK. Using the same ranking, United States ranks the 37th
country with the best care systems (Hegney et al., 2016).
Nursing practice in both the countries face workforce shortages and therefore competition
for the job is low. Working opportunities for the nursing graduates are similar with the nurses
capable of working in the primary and secondary care systems, in home care, they can practice
community nursing a well as hospice care. In the past we have experience Australian nurses
working in the UK and vice versa is also true. However, the transfer of registration fee in both
countries vary depending on their regulating bodies (Eley et al., 2010).
The other controversial aspect of nursing in the two countries is the nurse to patient
ratios. On average, Australian nurses experience a nurse to patient ratio of 1:4 with the exception
of night shifts and intensive care patients where the ratio is 1:1. The UK nurses on the other hand
experience a nurse patient ratio of 1:8 but this is usually dependent on the location, place of
work, and level of severalty of the patient. The high dependency ratios are 1:2 and that even goes

NURSING EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND UK 4
further to 1:1 in the intensive care units. The difference in the ratios is attributed to population
differences as the two countries have different population densities. Also as mentioned above,
UK is facing shortage of nurses as compared to Australia and thus the high ratios. Additionally,
nurse to patient ratio is linked to the work load, that is, the work life balance (O'Connor et al.,
2015).
In conclusion, the nursing studies and related health care systems face similarities and
differences in the two countries. From the outgoing discussion, major differences are Continued
Professional Development, world health care ranking and nurse to patient ratio. The major
disparity being the period over which nursing has run as a graduate profession and the rate at
which a nurse has to further their professional career, CPD. On the other hand, similarities are
evident when it comes to regulation of the nursing profession, work life balance, workforce
shortage as well as professional qualifications. Regardless of the fact that nursing took long to
advance into a degree program, as of 2013, the two were at par when it comes two these
professional qualifications.

NURSING EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND UK 5
References
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Douglas, M. R., Leigh, J. A., & Douglas, C. H. (2011). UK registered nurse medical device
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Eley, R., Eley, D., & Rogers-Clark, C. (2010). Reasons for entering and leaving nursing: an
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Hegney, D., Eley, R., Plank, A., Buikstra, E., & Parker, V. (2016). Workplace violence in
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Kause, J., Smith, G., Prytherch, D., Parr, M., Flabouris, A., & Hillman, K. (2014). A comparison
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O'Connor, M., Abbott, J. A., Payne, S., & Demmer, C. (2015). A comparison of bereavement
services provided in hospice and palliative care settings in Australia, the UK and the
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