I grew up on a farm in a small regional town called Gundagai and moved to the Snowy Mountains when I was 10.   From there, I completed my secondary education at Monaro High School and received my higher school certificate.   I have just completed the final year of my degree of Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Wollongong Bega campus.

Nursing to me, is the start of a chapter of many more to come.   I see nursing as a challenging but rewarding career that is forever changing and adapting.   I am engaged in the endless number of opportunities it will open for me.  My end goal is to work in a rural hospital within the Emergency Department as a Registered Nurse with the opportunity to transition to a nurse practitioner role and travel to rural and remote Australia.

Throughout my nursing degree, I have had the opportunity to attend workplace experience and many regional hospitals.   From my workplace experiences I have been able to work within many different hospitals and with many other healthcare professionals.   For 2024, I have been lucky enough to have been offered a new graduate position at South East Regional Hospital within Bega; this opportunity will open numerous future career experiences and prospects.   I look forward to grow my knowledge and skill sets to help prepare me for my future as a rural registered nurse.

During 2023 I was fortunate enough to have two critical care placements through my university at South east Regional Hospital ( my current workplace for new grad).

ICU / HDU

My first placement in late March/ early April was in the intensive care/ high dependence unit at SERH.

During the 4 weeks I was here I was given countless opportunities to practice and perform specialised skills learnt in university within a controlled environment.  This placement aided  in developing my  focused assessment skills for clinically ill patients. I got the opportunity to work with skilled experienced nurses with some mentoring throughout my placement and final year of university. this environment was open to me as a student asking any questions I may have had and if the nurse was unsure, spending the time to find the answer either through searching the intranet to find policies/procedures or discussing with other nurses or doctors.

ED

My final placement of 5 weeks in August and September was in the emergency department at SERH.

This placement was the best placement for my study as it allowed me to work autonomously and build upon the basic skills I had already learnt throughout my nursing course.

From my first day, I had a patient load meaning a I was entirely responsible for my patients care needs with the supervision of the registered nurse I was paired with. At first, this was confronting and I doubted my ability but through doing it I learnt how to be proactive and built upon my time management skills.

I had endless opportunities on my placement and got to experience and see interesting procedures.

• Resuscitation of patients
• Bedside medical procedures -> chest drains
• Radiology
• Pathology
• Patient load
• Experience working with paediatric patients
• Recognising and looking after deteriorating patients