EGHS welcomes seven graduate nurses

East Grampians Health Service has welcomed seven nurses to its graduate nurse program for 2018.

Seven registered nurses, including a registered nurse/registered midwife (RN/RM) and a registered nurse/paramedic (RN/P), commenced their 12-month graduate program at EGHS in January.

Clinical rotations are varied dependent on the graduates’ skill set, however, in general these rotations will be in the peri-operative unit (POU), 70 Lowe St, community nursing, in-patient unit (IPU) and urgent care centre (UCC).

Acting Manager Education Claire Sladdin said the RN/RM will spend the majority of the time in IPU, with two three week rotations planned throughout the year to be spent at Ballarat Health Services (BHS), which will assist in building knowledge and experience in nursing higher risk births as well as caring for babies in the neonatal setting.

“For the first time, our Registered Nurse/Paramedic is also being offered a rotation in the UCC as part of the graduate nurse program,” Claire said.

“This was offered as an attractive opportunity to be able to implement skills learnt as part of the paramedic degree. The Registered Nurse/Paramedic will be supported by the clinical support nurses to run shifts in the UCC, triage patients and manage ambulance presentations and transfers.

“On weekends, the opportunity to work alongside the supervisors to gain invaluable experience in these areas will be provided.”

Graduates will be supported throughout the year by the clinical support nurses on a daily basis in the clinical areas.

Claire said the clinical support nurses will assist in the graduates’ development of clinical assessment and skills as well as support their individual professional and emotional needs.

They will meet as a group facilitated by the clinical support nurses each fortnight initially for debriefing/education sessions as well as attend six study days on various topics throughout the year.