Cambodian slums inspired one of uni’s first nursing graduates
A school trip to the slums of Cambodia set Ben Scanlon on the path to being a nurse.
He’s now in the first crop of Waikato University nursing graduates – more than 60 of them had their ceremony at The Pā on campus yesterday.
While some crossing the stage to get their pre-registration nursing qualifications were Bachelor of Nursing students, others did the graduate-entry Master of Nursing Practice.
Dean of health Jo Lane says the university has more planned to give the understaffed health sector a shot in the arm.
Scanlon is already putting his degree to work at Tui Medical Rototuna.
A medical career was always likely for the 21-year-old; his late father was an urgent-care doctor at Anglesea Clinic and his mother’s a Plunket line nurse.
But it was a St Paul’s school trip to Cambodia that sealed the deal for him. “We got to go into the slums and help out with the kids over there ... We went into the worst parts of the slums, and we got to give basic medical aid. Being part of a difference and helping them, and having a big impact on their lives, that was something I was really interested in.”
Waikato University’s offering of the nursing degree allows Scanlon to stay close to his family. “Being the first cohort, I expected there to be a few bumps, but I think they ran it really well.
“I also found at the uni we got a little bit more placement hours. Yes, you learn a lot in the books, but you learn a lot more when you’re actually seeing the patients and you’re seeing the conditions they talk about in the books.”
Scanlon is only too aware of the lack of nurses in New Zealand and better pay options overseas, but he has no immediate plans of heading offshore.
“With my family being here and with my goals at the moment, I don’t really have that temptation. I think I’m probably just going to work for a bit to pay off the debt and then see where I end up after that.”
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation said in September it required 4000 more nurses due to people leaving the profession and retirements.
Waikato University’s dean of health, Professor Jo Lane said this was the first step towards addressing the health workforce crisis. “We’ve got other programmes that will be coming online in the next couple of years to support other health professions.”
Lane said nursing enrolments were incredibly strong. “It shows the interest and commitment to university study and health professions here.”
The nursing degree has served as a launch pad for other health programmes, including the country’s first graduate-entry pharmacy programme, which will begin next year.