The lack of doctors and dentists in rural areas has often overshadowed the fact that regional hospitals also desperately need Registered Nurses. To help overcome this shortage, Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Greater Southern and Western Area Health Services have collaborated in creating workshops and outreach programs aimed at encouraging and supporting Enrolled Nurses to upgrade their skills through study to become registered nurses. Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Health Science at CSU, Heather Latham who has been involved in the workshops since they began in Dubbo in 2003, says enrolled nurses who attend the workshops come away with a greater understanding of what will be required of them to succeed at university. “Some are unsure, others are unrealistically confident and others have been out of school for a long time and need assistance to develop their literacy skills.”  Enrolled nurses who have been chosen to participate in the program by the Area Health Service do not have to travel to residential schools at Bathurst CSU because Ms Latham and her colleagues take the residential schools to them. Some of the first attendees at the workshops are now almost ready to graduate. “We are confident they will go back to their local community and get jobs. It is work we feel passionate about because we see the importance of supporting people in rural and regional areas who are educationally disadvantaged,” Ms Latham said.