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Melbourne Registered Nurse Graduate Program

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The Graduate Nursing Program at St Vincent’s Private Hospitals Melbourne educates and supports newly registered nurse graduates to develop confidence, professionalism and clinical expertise, whilst providing experience in a diverse and challenging range of speciality nursing environments.  We are committed to developing your career and ensuring that your graduate year will be an exciting and rewarding experience. 


At St Vincent’s Private Hospitals Melbourne we are committed to providing you with a strong foundation for your career development.  We offer a supportive and nurturing environment for lifelong learning, through training, mentorship, networking and learning experiences to consolidate your clinical skills and critical thinking abilities to set you up for a meaningful and successful career. 


When you join St Vincent’s Private Hospital Melbourne, you will work at one or more of our four locations across Melbourne: Fitzroy, East Melbourne, Kew and Werribee.

Aims of the program

We recognise that as a nursing student you may have had limited opportunities to explore different clinical areas. Our program is designed to allow you to explore these opportunities so that in the future you will have a better understanding of where you would like to focus your nursing career and consolidate your nursing skills.


 Our program will:

•    offer you a range of rotation options so that you gain comprehensive clinical experience

•    enable you to use your knowledge to achieve quality patient outcomes

•    increase your confidence and strengthen your skills base

•    develop your ability to work independently and as a team member

•    enhance your decision making and critical thinking skills

•    create a supportive environment for you to enjoy your nursing career and development

What does the program entail?

The St Vincent’s Private Hospitals Melbourne Registered Nurse Graduate Program is conducted across our four hospital locations and graduates can rotate across the different campuses. 


•    The 12-month program provides you with the opportunity to tailor your individual program and explore 2 x 6-month rotations in clinical areas you wish to gain experience in. 

(You do not require undergraduate experience in your nominated clinical areas of interest). 

•    The choice of Part time (8 shifts/fortnight) or Full time (10 shifts/fortnight) hours

•    A comprehensive orientation program introduces you to St Vincent’s Private Hospitals

•    During your graduate year you will be supported with paid study days  

•    Access to our Wellbeing Coordinator for individual support or clinical debriefing

•    A dedicated Graduate Coordinator and Clinical Coach support team

Rotation options

General Ward Rotations    

•    Cardiac/Cardiothoracic

•    Thoracic

•    Haematology and Oncology

•    Renal

•    Colorectal and Upper Gastrointestinal Disease

•    Acute Neurosciences 

•    Vascular

•    Orthopaedics

•    Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

•    Urology

•    Gynaecology

•    General Surgery

•    Ear Nose and Throat

Speciality Rotations

•    Coronary Care and Cardiac Services

•    Day Procedure Unit

•    Intensive Care Unit

•    Paediatrics

•    Theatre - Peri-operative & PACU


Clinical support

The Education team at St Vincent’s Private are confident that you will have the support you need to achieve your goals. Our education team are available and are willing to assist you to provide a positive learning experience.


Our graduates receive extensive clinical support on each rotation who work alongside the specialty and ward based clinical coaches, all who provide hands on bedside clinical support and education in a friendly and supportive manner.


You will be allocated a preceptor on each rotation that will also work alongside you to facilitate your learning and transition as a registered nurse. 


On each ward rotation you will receive supernumery time and a graduated workload to assist you in the transition to registered nurse. You will receive additional supernumerary time for speciality rotations.


We offer extensive education programs, including paid study days, access to ward based education, twilight seminars and short courses.



Application process                                         APPLY HERE

We welcome applications from all universities throughout Australia and New Zealand. You don’t have to have completed a clinical placement with us to apply.



2025 Program

Late vacancy stage


Applications for our 2025 Graduate Registered Nurse Program is now open. 

Applications must be submitted through St Vincent’s Private Workday by 5pm Monday 23rd September 2024.


Eligible applicants must have completed a Bachelor of Nursing Program or equivalent no earlier than 1st June 2024.


Applicants do not need to register with PCMV.



Application Requirements                            APPLY HERE

All candidates are to submit the following via Workday

•    Cover letter

•    Succinct Curriculum Vitae (no more than three pages), including two clinical referees from 2nd or 3rd year placements (one of whom must be from an adult acute care placement of two weeks or longer)

•    Certified copy your academic transcript (including legend)

•    Two certified acute medical or surgical ward clinical assessment tools (eg. ANSAT)

       o    Must be two weeks or longer and either from second or third year placements undertaken in Australia or New Zealand.

       o    We do not accept clinical assessment tools from Mental Health, Community or Theatre (we will accept a PACU clinical tool) nursing placements. We do understand that this may leave you with limited options to send in and therefore depending on the length of your medical or surgical ward placement and with the approval of the RN Graduate Program Coordinator we may accept clinical assessment tools from one of the above listed placements. Please submit the entire document, not just the summary. We require every page of the document including notes pages.

•    Identification - international candidates are required to include a photocopy of their passport


Interview process

The Graduate Program Coordinator will review all applications.

If you have been selected, you will receive communication via email with how to book an interview time. 

The earlier your application is received, the more flexibility you will have in selecting a suitable interview time. 

If you have not been selected for an interview you will receive notification via Workday.

Our interviews will commence in early October.  


For further information:


If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Carolyn Price, Graduate Nurse Coordinator on 03 9411 7763 or via email SVPHM.Education.Programs@svha.org.au 





Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. At the interview stage, you will outline your preferences for which intake you would like to go into and which clinical areas you would like to rotate through. Every effort will be made to ensure your rotations match your preferences, however some areas are more popular than others. We never send any graduate to an area that they have ranked in the lower half of preference lists. Graduates are encouraged to rotate into a specialty area as part of the program. All graduate rotations are to acute care areas, we do not offer rotations to aged care or rehabilitation.
We know that you have put a lot of time and effort into preparing your application and we will review all applications. Please pay particular attention to your spelling and grammar. It is a good idea to get someone to check your application. Make sure you send in all of the required information and aim to send in your application at least one week prior to the closing date.
Whilst you are preparing your application, we are more than happy to answer any questions you may have, via phone or email.
We welcome applications from all universities and you do not need to have conducted your placement with St Vincent’s Private.
Our priority is to ensure that our patients receive the highest standard of care and our nurse patient ratio is determined by the acuity and complexity of the care required. As a graduate you will work in a team of nurses in a collaborative care model.
Upon completion of the program you may have the opportunity to work in a variety of clinical areas, including specialty areas or to further extend yourself with post graduate studies.
Our patient mix ensures that you will be able to care for patients who have had highly acute and complex surgical procedures such as open heart surgery, acute interventional cardiac procedures, major orthopaedic and reconstructive surgery, craniotomies and spinal surgery, major abdominal and vascular surgery. We also receive acute admissions from surrounding emergency departments and direct emergency ambulance admissions.
We only require you to complete a maximum of two weeks night duty during the program.

Better and fairer care. Always.

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