New nurses bolster health service
A wealth of new nursing staff members has bolstered clinical numbers at Rural Northwest Health and helped ensure the organisation continues to meet high industry standards.
A dozen new nurses have chosen the health service for the completion of their graduate year, prompting education and research manager Dr Kaye Knight to declare the intake as the highest in the organisation’s recent history.
“We have welcomed both registered nurses and enrolled nurses, which is also a major boost to the qualification levels at RNH,” she said.
“We are very pleased to have these numbers in our nursing fraternity and to have highly trained people is even better.”
Dr Knight said most of the new nurses who had signed on had completed clinical placement with RNH last year.
“They enjoyed their time at RNH so much that they chose us for their grad year,” she said.
“That means they clearly enjoy the working environment at RNH and the rural lifestyle around Warracknabeal and Hopetoun is obviously appealing to them as well.” Dr Knight said credit for the bolstered numbers should also go to a clinical team who had supported these nurses at the bedside.
“Particularly our clinical support nurse Breanna Stonehouse who is doing a great job mentoring these nurses,” she said.
“She has been marvellous with making these nurses feel comfortable and helping them to continuously improve their skills.
“It works both ways because our new grads have added capacity to our workforce and in return they will be provided with valuable support to learn more and become better nurses.”
Dr Knight said RNH’S education and training programs were the envy of other health services.
“It’s also important to highlight RNH management has always encouraged team members to better themselves and to develop their careers to their maximum potential,” she said.
“That always benefits RNH and our employees.”
RNH has 14 team members studying either the Diploma of Nursing or Bachelor of Nursing in 2019. both