education level and why i chose it
As many of you may know, I am a Registered Nurse in Australia. This is a University degree, so I have a Bachelor of Nursing (BN). To get into University, I had to complete High School to Year 12. There were certain subjects I needed to complete for my Higher School Certificate- maths and science (biology at a minimum). We also had to get a certain mark in the University Admission Index. (The UAI is awarded to students on the completion of the HSC in NSW. It provided a percentile ranking of peer students of the same age. In New South Wales, the UAI was determined by a combination of the public HSC exams common across all schools at the end of Year 12 and continuing assessment.)
I attended Sydney University. We were not on Main Campus; we were about a 10-minute walk away. It was nice to be on a small campus only for nursing students, but I did miss the atmosphere of the main campus. It is a 3-year degree, and we had practical placement each year. We had 4 weeks practical in 1st year, 6 weeks in 2nd year, and 8 weeks in 3rd year.
I love my job. I chose to go to Uni and get a Tertiary Education as I wanted to get started in my career. And I was in the groove of studying and didn’t want to lose the study momentum. I could have been an Enrolled Nurse first, but I was impatient and wanted to start working! This is a 12-month course at TAFE (Technical and Further Education). In hindsight, maybe I should have gone the TAFE route to get more practical experience, but I learnt a lot on the job once I started work. And I don’t think I would be a Community Nurse now if I didn’t go to university.
sorry that the image is no great… it was taken from another photo!
I also have a Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care from the Australian Catholic University. This was an online course. I did this while I was working in Palliative Care at the time. I love this area, providing holistic care to patients and their families when they are at one of the worst times in their lives, being diagnosed with a life-limiting illness.
I am a certified Death Doula through Australian Doula College. I only finished and received my certificate mid-June.
I also have a Certificate 3 in Animal Studies. I did this before COVID, and got my practical experience at Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.
a day in my life
I lead a relatively boring life! I work as a full-time Community Nurse 5 days a week, with a weekend once per month.
So, an average weekday for me is similar (I will also do a weekend day in my life post).
I wake at 615am-first job is to say hello to Nala and give her a pat. Then shower and get dressed for work.
Next is feeding Nala, changing her water, and cleaning her litter tray. I also try to watch the 6.30am news and weather while eating breakfast, usually Weetbix or a smoothie. Lately, it has been a meal replacement shake. Sometimes I am lazy and get a Sausage and Egg McMuffin from McDonalds. I am working to cut this habit out.
I leave home at about 7 am mainly so I can get a park out the front of work. 99% of the time I can get a spot out the front of work. I start at 8 am, but parking is at a premium, and I don’t want to pay to park.
Work involves seeing patients in their homes. We visit between 9 am and 2 pm. My work involves mainly dressings, catheters and drains. We are back in the office in the afternoon to do notes on each patient. We have a weekly case conference, where we discuss difficult or interesting patients, so we can all share our knowledge on how to best care for them.
There are also many hazards to my job. This includes birds attacking my car! Rain is also a hazard! Plus a lot of other things, like heat, unrestrained animals and limited space to do our work.
I usually get home at about 4.45 pm. Once home, Nala gets her dinner and water top-up. I then usually do some computer work, checking emails and work on my blog and vlog.
I will then go onto my balcony (often with a glass of wine) for a Facebook check, and Nala spends some time on the balcony, checking out the view. And she watches the birds! I have some cat netting installed on my balcony so when Nala is outside she can’t jump off and fall off my 2nd floor unit!
