MACKAY Hospital and Health Service (HHS) welcomes another strong intake of graduate nurses for the year as the third of a series of four orientation sessions continues this week.
Executive Director Nursing and Midwifery Karen Wade said 84 newly qualified nurses have been recruited to the 2023 Mackay HHS Nursing and Midwifery Graduate Program.
“We are delighted to welcome our largest annual cohort of graduate nurses to the health service where they will consolidate and further develop the clinical skills they learned at university,” Ms Wade said.
Nurse educator Julie Phillipson said it was a busy but exciting time of the year.
“It’s always exciting to see students grow and develop from undergraduate to graduate nurses,” Ms Phillipson said.
“You get a lot of satisfaction seeing them succeed and go on to deliver a service to the community.”
The Mackay HHS Nursing and Midwifery Graduate Program is twelve months in duration consisting of either two 6-month clinical rotations or one 12-month rotation across Mackay Base Hospital and rural hospitals.
“Graduate nurses undertake placements across any of the 25 clinical areas in the Base Hospital including mental health, emergency, renal, medical, cardiac, surgical, oncology and theatres, as well as across our rural facilities,” Ms Wade said.
66 nurse graduates will join the team at Mackay Base Hospital, five will be based in Proserpine, one at Sarina and 12 will undertake rural rotations.
“They will be supported with mentoring, theoretical and clinical guidance to ensure we build safe, confident and competent nurses,” Ms Wade said.
“Most graduates studied at CQUniversity and James Cook University and are from the Mackay region,” Ms Wade said.
“More and more of our new nurses are locals, so it is no surprise they want to develop their career close to home.”
This is certainly the case for grad nurses Chloe Langridge and Sara Herringe.
Chloe, who is now working in the Intensive Care Unit at Mackay Base Hospital, is following in her father’s footsteps.
“My dad was a paramedic and a nurse, so I’ve grown up around emergency nursing.”
Sara decided she didn’t want a desk job.
“During my studies I went to Alpha for a placement and loved it,” she said.
“I am looking forward to doing a hinterland rotation across Moranbah, Dysart and Clermont.”
Matt Vella is another Mackay local.
““I have a very accident-prone family; we have a cattle property, so I spent quite a bit of time in the Emergency Department with family members with broken limbs,” Matt said.
“I also had a Nan who had a stroke and watching her being cared for also reinforced the idea that I wanted to do nursing.”
Matt spent time in our Critical Care Unit as a student nurse and they’re thrilled to him him back as a graduate.
Mackay Hospital and Health Service continues to support graduate registered nurses after their first year of professional practise with excellent retention rates.
