OK, So I thought since I have multiple friends in various locations and not all of them have secret passwords for secret sites, yadda yadda yadda, I'd do what everyone else in the world seems to be doing these days (and apparently making money from) and blog.
Yup. Blog. That and handwriting multiple letters is going to give me hand cramps and that's never a good thing. So.
I'm in remote WA at the moment working as a rural/remote nurse and loving it. I've had to leave my partner and stepson behind in good ol' Tassie, due to other circumstances (although hoping to get back there soon!) and am missing them dreadfully but am loving what I am learning.
I'm learning to suture, and while I thought being able to have some sewing ability would put me in leagues ahead, turns out it doesn't. So, suture practice, HERE I COME!
Am driving to Esperance in a week as well. Am determined to see as much of this country as I can given that I am out here anyway and might never get to do so again. I tell you what, never would have thought that I would miss being near a beach! I guess it's one of those things that majority of Aussies take for granted.... That a beach is always max about an hour or two away and if you don't like the first, then there is always another. But I digress.
So, we have a Dr 10/7 days, and he's on call whenever he isn't physically here. Consequently I can do my health assessments faster than what I can scoff a Haighs Peppermint Frog down (and trust me, that's saying something right there) but we can get so busy (you wouldn't think so but we can) that it doesn't matter how fast you go, you aren't going fast enough (metro A&E nurses you feeling my pain?!?!).
So I guess something that I am wondering is how early career nurses transition to rural/remote practice. It's a question that I am using for one of my research subjects at uni, as there is lots of info with regards to grad nurses transitioning and all that (and that is important if we wish to retain them in this profession) but how do those that are already in the nursing profession decide to go rural or remote. What influences them and why? What considerations are taken into account when they are making that decision?
I know for my partner and I, it was the shock of not having my contract renewed due to budget constraints and the need to obtain a new position fast (despite being told otherwise repeatedly). I was lucky that an agency that I had already joined years ago, had an immediate vacancy and voila, here I am. But I know that others may not be as lucky or they are doing it for other reasons. I'll be honest, it wasn't something that I had orginally considered, as I felt that I was too junior still and it was something that I thought would happen years down the track. Life changes things on you rather quickly sometimes and things don't always happen how you think or how you have planned. It didn't for us. But it seems everything has worked out so far though.
After this I am going to Alice Springs, which is not as remote, and has more services, but similar issues remain. Indigenous health, the ability to provide services that the community needs and wants to use and trying to recruit and retain qualified staff in a range of specialities and making working in such an environment attractive enough in various ways that people want to come in the first place.
I'm doing it because I really enjoy rural/remote health (more rural for me though) and will be undertaking further studies in the area, and have been told by numerous colleagues that they think I will love it. Of that I have no doubt, but I do wonder what reasons others have.
Any ideas?
Yup. Blog. That and handwriting multiple letters is going to give me hand cramps and that's never a good thing. So.
I'm in remote WA at the moment working as a rural/remote nurse and loving it. I've had to leave my partner and stepson behind in good ol' Tassie, due to other circumstances (although hoping to get back there soon!) and am missing them dreadfully but am loving what I am learning.
I'm learning to suture, and while I thought being able to have some sewing ability would put me in leagues ahead, turns out it doesn't. So, suture practice, HERE I COME!
Am driving to Esperance in a week as well. Am determined to see as much of this country as I can given that I am out here anyway and might never get to do so again. I tell you what, never would have thought that I would miss being near a beach! I guess it's one of those things that majority of Aussies take for granted.... That a beach is always max about an hour or two away and if you don't like the first, then there is always another. But I digress.
So, we have a Dr 10/7 days, and he's on call whenever he isn't physically here. Consequently I can do my health assessments faster than what I can scoff a Haighs Peppermint Frog down (and trust me, that's saying something right there) but we can get so busy (you wouldn't think so but we can) that it doesn't matter how fast you go, you aren't going fast enough (metro A&E nurses you feeling my pain?!?!).
So I guess something that I am wondering is how early career nurses transition to rural/remote practice. It's a question that I am using for one of my research subjects at uni, as there is lots of info with regards to grad nurses transitioning and all that (and that is important if we wish to retain them in this profession) but how do those that are already in the nursing profession decide to go rural or remote. What influences them and why? What considerations are taken into account when they are making that decision?
I know for my partner and I, it was the shock of not having my contract renewed due to budget constraints and the need to obtain a new position fast (despite being told otherwise repeatedly). I was lucky that an agency that I had already joined years ago, had an immediate vacancy and voila, here I am. But I know that others may not be as lucky or they are doing it for other reasons. I'll be honest, it wasn't something that I had orginally considered, as I felt that I was too junior still and it was something that I thought would happen years down the track. Life changes things on you rather quickly sometimes and things don't always happen how you think or how you have planned. It didn't for us. But it seems everything has worked out so far though.
After this I am going to Alice Springs, which is not as remote, and has more services, but similar issues remain. Indigenous health, the ability to provide services that the community needs and wants to use and trying to recruit and retain qualified staff in a range of specialities and making working in such an environment attractive enough in various ways that people want to come in the first place.
I'm doing it because I really enjoy rural/remote health (more rural for me though) and will be undertaking further studies in the area, and have been told by numerous colleagues that they think I will love it. Of that I have no doubt, but I do wonder what reasons others have.
Any ideas?
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