More than 100 nursing and midwifery graduates are set to provide care and support to patients across the Sunshine Coast.
Among them is Ella Saltmarsh, who moved from Geelong to start her career as a midwife in the Women’s and Children’s Services at Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
“Delivering my first Sunshine Coast baby will be pretty exciting,” she said.
“Everyone seems laidback here, you’re close to the beach, why not the Sunshine Coast?” she said.
Meanwhile, Marianne Peirson, 57, has proved 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.
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“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,” she said.
Sunshine Coast Health acting nurse educator graduate programs Lucy Omaye said the first-year graduates would work across six of the service’s 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,” she 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 it was 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 would 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 at Sunshine Coast Health Institute on February 14, to start orientation. They will complete hospital-specific training over two weeks.
During this period, the graduates will complete an orientation, integrated electronic medical record (ieMR) training, an introduction to patient assessment workshop and attend a local induction in their allocated unit.
