What's your job about?
I’m a newly graduated Enrolled Nurse currently working within a surgical ward that specialises in neurosurgeries, spinal surgeries and urology.
A normal day in the life of a bedside/ward nurse is crazy to say the least, but in the best way.
Typical morning shift tasks may include, providing total care for up to 6 patients which includes medication administration, documentation and report writing, wound care, assisting patients with showers, personal care, feeding, collaboration with other health care professionals, providing emotional support and so many other critical tasks to encourage patient recovery.
A normal day for a Graduate Nurse involves a lot of learning on the job.
What's your background?
I grew up in Inner Western Sydney. Although I did graduate high school with my HSC, I wasn’t fully invested in school at the time. I loved school in the beginning but throughout years 11 & 12 I lost a lot of motivation and made a few bad decisions along the way. This meant I didn’t receive the ATAR needed to apply for courses at University. although this was disheartening at first, I discovered alternate paths to get to where I wanted to be. I jumped straight into my Diploma at TAFE, and just over one later at 19 years old, I graduated and landed a 1-year contract for a graduate position at Westmead Private. It’s almost been a year now, and I’m pleased to say I now have a permanent position at the hospital and I couldn’t be happier.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes.
Lots of very different types of people join health care and I think that’s what makes the field function so well. Nursing would welcome anyone who is willing to learn and be dedicated to their profession. Nurses require qualities such as critical thinking skills, leadership, problem-solving, flexibility, time management but also compassion, resilience and empathy.
Many skills that are used in a variety of workplace settings and everyday life can be applied and adapted to nursing, but these can also be learnt and strengthened on the job as well
What’s the best thing about your job?
Nursing is an extremely rewarding job that teaches you so much gratitude. At the end of each shift, I go home knowing that I have made a difference in someone’s life, even if it was only something small. Every day I start my shift excited to learn and see new things.
Nursing is a career that allows for a lot of flexibility and movement, and there are so many different paths to take in a range of fields that enables you to experience new things but stay within the same discipline.
One thing I love more than anything is seeing a patient’s health progress substantially from their first day of admission. Recovering from any surgery takes a lot of hard work, determination, and courage. It is inspiring to work with people every day who push themselves through some extremely tough recoveries, and still manage a positive mindset despite their situations.
What are the limitations or challenging aspects of your job?
Health care never takes a day off and working within a hospital environment can mean shift work, weekend work, overtime and long hours.
This can be very demanding, especially considering how physical the job can be. Anything can happen at any time and deteriorating patients and busy doctors don’t wait. Being able to deal with these stresses, as well as multiple other patients with their own issues is tough. Just because there’s a lot happening at once does not make mistakes any less dangerous or fatal and this also does not make you any less accountable for your actions.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...
Some advice I would give myself: