Support strategies that graduate indigenous nurses - a dreaming journey

The University of Southern Queensland's (USQ) Department of Nursing and Midwifery is leading the way in the recruitment, retention and graduation of Indigenous students into both undergraduate and postgraduate nursing programs. The Indigenous nursing academics within the Department are proactive in providing academic and cultural support to help Indigenous nursing students advance toward graduation. The team of three Indigenous nursing academics has implemented strategies from the Indigenous Nursing Support (INS) model Helping Hands to support the retention of Indigenous nursing students. This retention tool is a highly successful and proven means of intervention, as demonstrated by USQ's national leadership in enrolments and graduating students. Indigenous nursing enrolments at USQ have grown from 10 to 60 over a two year period, and USQ is now preparing to host the largest graduation (to date) in 2010, of 13 Indigenous registered nurses.