Diploma of Nursing
HLT - Health
Two-year diploma leading to registration as an Enrolled Nurse with AHPRA. Includes more than 400 hours of supervised clinical practice.
Entry requirements
- Year 12 with English and a science
- Police Check
- AHPRA student registration
What you will learn
The HLT54121 is the gateway Enrolled Nurse qualification accredited by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) and leading to registration as an Enrolled Nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) under AHPRA. Core units include applying communication skills in nursing, recognising healthy body systems and applying basic anatomy and physiology, contributing to client assessment and developing nursing care plans, implementing and monitoring care for clients with mental health conditions, administering and monitoring medications, providing nursing care for clients requiring palliative care, applying nursing practice in the acute care environment, and applying nursing practice in the community care environment.
Skills you build
- Patient assessment and vital signs interpretation
- Medication administration under NMBA standards
- Wound care and infection control
- Palliative and end-of-life care
- Mental health and dementia care nursing
- Acute care nursing in surgical and medical wards
- Community and primary health nursing
How the course runs
Full-time over 18 to 24 months. Around 1,800 hours of formal training including 400+ hours of supervised clinical placement in hospital and community settings. Theory, simulation lab and clinical placement split roughly 40/30/30. AHPRA student registration is mandatory from the start of the course. After completion you sit the NMBA registration process to become a registered Enrolled Nurse.
How you will be assessed
- Clinical placement assessments by registered nurse preceptors
- Simulation lab competency assessments
- Written knowledge tests per unit of competency
- Case study presentations on patient nursing care plans
- National Medications Safety assessment
Workplace and placement
Minimum 400 hours of supervised clinical placement across acute, community and aged care settings is required. Placements organised by the RTO with public health services, private hospitals and aged care providers. You hold AHPRA student registration and a Police Check from the start of the course. Enrolled Nurse wages are set under the relevant state Nurses Award or enterprise agreement, with shift loadings for night, weekend and public holiday work.
Typical employers
- Public hospitals (state health departments)
- Private hospitals (Ramsay, Healthscope, St Vincent's)
- Aged care residential facilities
- Community nursing and home care services
- GP practices and specialist clinics
- Defence health and Indigenous health services
Pay after this qualification
$65,000 - $82,000 per year
Source: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/explore-careers/occupation/enrolled-and-mothercraft-nurses. Last reviewed 2026-05-21.
Is this the right course for you?
You probably thrive here if
- You can manage shift work and 12-hour shifts
- You can stay calm during medical emergencies
- You can handle bodily fluids and clinical environments
- You can take direction from Registered Nurses
- You can communicate clearly with patients and families
It is probably not for you if
- You react badly to clinical environments
- You cannot handle shift work, weekends and overnights
- You have a back condition that limits patient handling
- You cannot pass a Police Check or AHPRA registration
After you finish
After the Diploma and AHPRA registration as an Enrolled Nurse you can pursue a Bachelor of Nursing at Western Sydney, Deakin, QUT, ACU, Charles Sturt, La Trobe, Edith Cowan and many other unis with up to one year of credit. Bachelor completion leads to Registered Nurse registration with NMBA. Many Enrolled Nurses progress to mental health, perioperative or critical care nursing with specialist endorsements before completing a Bachelor degree.
Careers this leads to
Credit into a uni degree
Common articulation pathways. Confirm credit transfer with the receiving university directly.