One of my main endeavours to continue being a rural nurse for my graduate position has come from working at Central Gippsland Health for the past 2.5 years.   Along with completing placements throughout my studies at hospitals such as Barinsdale Regional Hospital and Central Gippsland health, both have given me broad exposure into the variety of work that I can e involved in.

I believe you experience so many different aspects of nursing in a small hospital and I have found that I have become multi-skilled quite quickly.   Rural hospitals give you a strong opportunity to develop your career as the support and education is wonderful, with educators eager for me to learn and do rolls where I have found in larger hospitals harder to come across.

I have lived within Gippsland my whole life and hope that I am given the opportunity to stay and grow with my current workplace or a town close by for my graduate position.   My biggest aspiration is to further my studies after completing my graduate year and this scholarship will be a huge help in assisting me with my goal of becoming a midwife and being able to give even more back to the rural hospital that gives me the opportunity to continue my career.

I love and appreciate my hometown and I would be thrilled to be part of the Rotary Club as it will give me the opportunity to see another aspect of the community.

My last ever placement for my nursing degree, I was in at Bairnsdale Regional Hospital (BRH) throughout my 6 weeks at BRH I was rotated through theatre, Short Stay Unit (SSU) and High dependency unit (HDU), spending 2 weeks in each setting.   The knowledge I gained during my final 6 weeks as a student nurse, was amazing and I am so grateful for my time I received on each of these departments.

I was very nervous at the beginning of my placement as I was going into 3 different places where I’d have to quickly adapt and learn a wide range of skill mix, however I have had experience as an Enrolled Nurse for 2.5 years at a similar rural hospital. I believe that my past experience helped give me my basic nursing skills such as communication, advocating for my patients and working with multidisciplinary teams.

I am very grateful I for my placement as I was paired with amazing preceptors along my 6 weeks, I found I have taken something from each one individually.   My first few days in each department was definitely challenging as I had to meet new staff and learn a new process, I was fortunate enough with my background experience to easily adapt and try my hardest to show initiative.

I was lucky enough to see a whole range of things, in theatre I received really great feedback, I had some stressful days where I worked alongside the highly trained Doctors and nurses where I felt I had to try my best to impress.

SSU was where I spent my second 2 weeks of placement and I found I picked up the routine and caught the hang of things within the first 2 days, once again I received great feedback from all my preceptors.

Lastly, I spent my final 2 weeks in HDU which was a place I had not worked yet, and it was very interesting looking after some very unwell patients and being exposed to different sorts of medications.   Overall, I had a great experience at BRH and really enjoyed my final placement, I really hope to casually work at BRH in the future.

I am now in my first week of my graduate year at Central Gippsland Health, currently working in Critical Care unit, I believe I was very fortunate with my placement as it all links into the department I am in now.