The Nursing 'Tea'
"Why are you a Nurse?"
A question likely asked in confusion from a non- health professional, and given the damning headlines and worrying reports it’s understandable why the career would seem ludicrous.
However when speaking to those on the ground, and in training, it’s clear there’s another side to nursing that is just as important to tell, the real tea.
“Making a difference, a true heartfelt difference in people is what it’s all about”
Penny McLeod on what it means to be a nurse
The matriarchal Penny McLeod tells her daughter, daughter-in-law and niece. These 4 women, this family, are all a part of the largest clinical workforce in Australia; nursing.
Penny became a midwife 1986 and has since delivered thousands of babies and provided support to mothers and children in their most critical years. Her daughter Jessica Keelan has followed in her footsteps, also undertaking midwifery.
Emma Flower-Donaldson jokingly claims she simply entered nursing
“to fit in with the rest of the family”.
Compassion, and family, isn’t the only attraction to nursing.
It is an incredibly mentally stimulating and challenging career.
The Next Generation of Nurses
The student nurse Madison Reeves (pictured above) explained her favourite thing of being a nurse is the “deep dive” into the patients and really getting to know them and understand what's going on.
Really “joining the dots”.
As University of Newcastle (UON) lecturer Elizabeth Bembridge tells;
“In this new post-covid environment, the students coming through genuinely want to be there. They know what they’re walking into but still approach it with a level of empathy and compassion”.
The educator went on to say she could definitely see these students “
help to be a part of the fix”.
Access to Genuine Support is Fundamental
Emma Flower-Donaldson is fairly new to her career in nursing; and was subject to these negative issues that plague the hospital nursing workplace.
“I was so nervous, afraid and alone, I had no one to support me but my family, they made me see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m so grateful for that”.
When I asked this family of experienced nursing on their negative experiences and what they would want to "fix" in nursing; pay was not raised as an issue once.
"Burnout out not only hurts the nurses themselves, but it produces a jaded environment and that's where a positive staff culture dies."
It is the lack of safe patient ratios, lack of support for women trying to be apart of their families, lack of support post covid-19 that is causing the systemic issues of nursing.
This family shows the impact of support in nursing in joining and remaining in the career; something that is unfortunately not available to many nurses around Australia.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association survey found 15 in every 100 meet the criteria of post traumatic stress disorder following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 'Fix' really is needed, and soon.
The NSW Coalition has promised to continually attract more workers to the sector; to make up for the growing ageing and vulnerable population and the increasing number of nurses leaving to profession.
NSW Health has said it lost 12.6 per cent of its nursing staff in 2021-22, compared to about 7 per cent annually in the preceding three years.
Clearly staff retention is a major focus now to ensure hospitals are safe for both staff and patients.
But how will this be achieved?
Education is the Key
Both Penny McLeod and Elizabeth Bembridge are massive advocates for education.
In Penny's current work she educates young expecting mothers on their bodies and pregnancy and is helping to keep many patients out of the hospital system and at home. Another factor in helping support hospitals and working in the community to free up the much desired beds.
Elizabeth as an educator is using her position to help change the nursing workforce, but giving her students the clinical and emotional resources to become incredible nurses.
“Working together as a team is so important,”
and a cornerstone to modern nursing training.
“Everyone has their own journey and I know the skills we have given them will make the journey valuable for them”.
Elizabeth’s students, like Madison, will join the largest health workforce in the country in just 18 months.
They will help Australians across the nation access medical and compassionate care across hospitals, specialists, aged care and other industries within healthcare.
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