Graduate pathways following nursing education during COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted many effects on populations worldwide. Due to the nature of the pandemic, health and specifically nursing sectors have been particularly impacted. While the nursing sector had to grapple with the impact of the pandemic as well as associated government interventions, nursing students have experienced changes in their job prospects, satisfaction with their training and their propensity to engage in further studies, all impinging on the sustainability of nursing education. This study aims to analyze educational outcomes for nursing graduates undertaking VET (vocational education and training) programs in Australia. Impacts assessed include employment, satisfaction, and further study after completion. The paper is based on analysis of five large waves of a comprehensive survey of Australian vocational education completers, from 2018 to 2022 inclusive. We develop three separate logistic regression models for the outcomes of employment, satisfaction, and enrollment in further study in order to estimate the predictive margins for the interactions between year and field of education, including the Diploma of Nursing, all other health qualifications, and all other qualifications. Our results show that these graduates saw significantly improved employment outcomes and heightened satisfaction during and after the pandemic, pointing to the sector meeting sustainability challenges. Interestingly, enrolment in further studies, after a notable increase earlier in the pandemic, returned to pre-pandemic levels as the crises abated.