Where were you working before being appointed as a Nurse Educator for Integrated Care?
- My substantive is as Clinical Nurse Educator at Rehabilitation in Murwillumbah Hospital.
- In 2016 I was also the Transition and Move Manager of all services (except Mental Health) for Byron Central Hospital. Prior to that I worked as an educator for anaesthesia, Cardiology, Monitoring and respiratory equipment for both General Electric and Philips Healthcare.
- Deep down, my clinical speciality and passion is Neurosurgical Intensive Care and I have worked in both Royal Brisbane Hospital and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as a CNS – I love the brain!
What aspect of the role are you enjoying most?
- The position as Nurse Educator allows me to utilise my strengths in networking, collaboration and project implementation. I also love to learn new things, and to look at ways in which we can improve on delivering best practice healthcare with a person centred approach.
- The exciting thing about this position is it allows a holistic perspective of healthcare delivery not usually seen from within the hospital; and aims to deliver nurses in primary health and aged care facilities evidence based learning pathways.
- I am also enjoying working with the integrated care team under Vicki Rose, Director of Integrated Care and Allied Health Services, and together with Primary Health Network. This is an exciting and innovative position.
What are you keen to work on in the future?
- I am passionate about developing progressive models of care and I think when we get truly genuine patient centred care, mixed with evidence based best practice across sectors, people will be empowered to manage their own health and fitness – this will take a load off our hospitals.
- In 2018 the focus areas for education are:
- Chronic and complex disease
- Managing the frail and elderly
- I will also be a consultant for Southern Cross University to develop a Graduate Certificate for nurses in primary health.
Tell us a bit about yourself
- I have 2 small rambunctious boys so spare time is rare and mostly spent trafficking them to play dates, sport, and any activity which involves wheels or water.
- There is music for every occasion, and usually that involves any occasion a live performance is on display, or listening to whatever tunes take my fancy whilst I’m in the kitchen. I do like to cook, and entertain; and have found myself trying out Julia Child’s French masterpieces, which with a vegetarian husband doesn’t leave much on his plate.