More than 100 newly graduated nurses and midwives are taking their first steps into their careers, ready to provide care and support to patients across the Sunshine Coast region.
One of those graduates is Ella Saltmarsh, who has travelled almost 2000 kilometres from Geelong to begin her career as a midwife in the Women’s and Children’s Services at Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
She shared what she was looking forward to most about the graduate role.
“Delivering my first Sunshine Coast baby will be pretty exciting,” Ella said.
“Everyone seems laidback here, you’re close to the beach, why not the Sunshine Coast?” she said.
While 57-year-old graduate registered nurse Marianne Peirson has proven it’s never too late to pursue a career you’re passionate about.
“Nursing has always been something I’ve wanted to do, having three sisters that are nurses, and now with my three boys all grown up, this was the perfect time in my life to chase that dream,” she said.
“I just love to help people and find it very natural to build a rapport with patients from the placements I did at university.”
After working in insurance for more than three decades, she was delighted to find out she had a graduate position with Sunshine Coast Health.
“The moment I found out I got into the graduate program at Gympie Hospital I was very excited because throughout the 12 months of the graduate program they offer great support and mentorship.”
Sunshine Coast Health Acting Nurse Educator Graduate Programs Lucy Omaye said the first-year graduates will be working across six of its health facilities.
“We have graduate nurses and midwives allocated positions for the year at Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Caloundra Health Service, Nambour General Hospital, Gympie Hospital, Glenbrook, and Maleny Soldiers Memorial Hospital," Ms Omaye said.
“Our nursing graduates will be working across a number of speciality areas such as emergency, intensive care, perioperative, mental health, cardiology, medical, surgical, palliative care, cancer care and aged care.
“Our midwifery graduates will have the chance to rotate throughout Women’s and Children’s Services to ensure they are able to experience all areas of midwifery practice.”
Ms Omaye said this is the second largest graduate cohort since Sunshine Coast University Hospital opened in 2017.
“We’ve got 154 graduates in total starting this year, including 136 registered nurses and 18 midwives," she said.
“The majority of the applicants have come from the local university, but we have had applicants travel and move here from Victoria, New South Wales and one graduate from New Zealand.
“We’re just so excited to be having so many graduates joining us and to see today the fresh energy they bring.”
Ms Omaye discussed what the graduate program will offer this next generation of nurses and midwives.
“The graduate program is all about offering support to our graduates and to make sure they feel safe transitioning from a student to a confident health practitioner," she said.
The graduate registered nurses and graduate midwives met today at Sunshine Coast Health Institute to start orientation and will complete hospital-specific training over the next two weeks.
During this period, the graduates will complete an orientation, integrated electronic medical record (ieMR) training, an introduction to patient assessment workshop and then attend a local induction in their allocated unit.