THE South West Hospital and Health Service is leading the way for a new, Queensland-wide career development pathway for registered nurses.
Director of nursing Leanne Raatz says it follows on from specialised rural and remote generalist career pathways for doctors and allied health professionals.
“Developing a similar pathway for registered nurses to specialise in rural and remote nursing is an obvious and necessary next step,” Ms Raatz explains.
The new Rural and Remote Generalist Registered Nurse (RRGRN) Pathway has been under development over the past year with South West Health leading the program with a range of partners, including Queensland Health’s Office of the Chief Nurse Officer and the Office of Rural and Remote Health.
Other partners include the Central West, North West and Torres and Cape hospital and health services, along with four regional tertiary education institutions – James Cook University, University of Southern Queensland, University of the Sunshine Coast and Central Queensland University.
Ms Raatz says the new RRGRN Pathway built on the National Rural and Remote Nursing Generalist Framework 2023-27. Developed by the Office of the National Rural Health Commissioner, the strategy laid out a blueprint for building a rural and remote nursing generalist career program across Australia.
Ms Raatz, who’s also in charge of midwifery education, says people living in regional and rural areas accounted for about 38 per cent of Queensland’s total population. “In addition, 47 per cent of Queensland’s First Nations peoples also live in non-metropolitan areas,” she says.
“We know rural and remote Queenslanders and First Nations people have less access to healthcare and a greater burden of chronic disease and premature mortality than their metropolitan counterparts.
“And they are also more heavily dependent on nurse-led health services, particularly in remote and very remote parts of Queensland, where doctors, paramedics and other health professionals are few and far between.”
PHOTO: Leanne Raatz…director of nursing for the South West Hospital and Health Service.
POSTED: Tuesday, June 30, 2026