What began as a gap year for Judy Struik has evolved into 46 years dedicated to patient care and nurse education.
Judy’s extensive nursing career was celebrated recently after she made the decision to call it a day and enter a well-earned retirement.
“I started at the Base Hospital in 1980, fresh out of school as a 17-year-old nursing student,” Judy said.
“I had been accepted into university to become a teacher but I needed a break after my school studies. My mum said, ‘you have to go and earn a living’ so she sent me off, I did some interviews and I got my first nursing job, and, well here I am today.”
That year, Judy began as a hospital-trained nurse and has never looked back.
“It was confronting as a 17-year-old, but I found nursing to be mentally stimulating and challenging,” she said.
“We did 6-week rotations and over my three years of training, I managed to experience every specialty of nursing.
“After completing my training, I secured a position in the medical ward, where I worked for a year. Soon after, my friends and I packed up and travelled to Perth, where I began working as a casual agency nurse.”
She joined Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital working in the intensive care unit (ICU).
“My experience in ICU was where I learnt a lot; more about organs and how they function together. It was a very pivotal point for me,” Judy said.
“After two years in Perth, I returned to Mackay for six months working in both Coronary Care and ICU, then on to the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital ICU for a brief time before moving back to the Base Hospital ICU in 1987 where I stayed for five years.”
The desire to continue learning and branch out into teaching was on Judy’s horizon. She took on her first leadership role with the Base Hospital’s female medical ward and completed higher education studies.
"In 1992, I became the ward’s clinical nurse consultant. It was the ideal place to learn management skills – staffing, rostering, education; we did it all,” Judy said.
“But having three small children and working fulltime soon proved too difficult so I spent three years on permanent night duty and worked briefly as a student facilitator.
"I completed both my Bachelor of Nursing and Post-Graduate Certificate studies, which was certainly a challenging period balancing study and family.
“During that time, I was also the research nurse for a national study introducing the MET system, which is now recognised across Australia. I’ve always thought of Mackay Base Hospital as a trailblazer for new initiatives."
Judy joined the Staff Development Unit in 2005 where she stayed for 15 years as a clinical educator, and in her final years she worked on policies.
“I had an aspiration to teach, and felt I wasn’t fulfilling the need to help grow the next generation but here I was able to impart the knowledge I’d gained from ICU,” she said.
“We saw the national standards come in and it was our team’s job to roll the standards out, educate staff on what the standards were and what was involved.
“These were very important, and we developed programs constantly as health research is always evolving. I loved these standards as it was totally focused on the patients, their safety and outcomes.
“I also completed a Masters of Clinical Nursing with a wonderful group of colleagues where I researched recognising deterioration, and did teaching stints with CQUniversity as a nursing lecturer.”
Over the years, Judy has seen many changes; from the shift to university-trained nurses, to enhanced health and safety standards and the introduction of electronic records. Yet, she maintains it is the fundamentals of nursing that remain unchanged.
“I love the constant learning, the camaraderie and relationships you form with patients.”
Colleagues gathered for a farewell afternoon tea to celebrate Judy’s retirement, recounting memories and her contributions to health care.
Judy is looking forward to an upcoming European river cruise and spending more time with her children in Brisbane.