Feature
Registered nurse Laurie Bickhoff never considered herself to be a nurse leader. That is, until she was encouraged to apply for the Emerging Nurse Leader (ENL) program at the Australian College of Nursing (ACN). Now, in her third and final year of the program and also completing a transition to cardiology nursing program at New South Wales’ John Hunter Hospital, Laurie has a different view of what defines a nurse leader. “Initially, I always thought a nurse leader was someone with 30 years’ experience, all the way up the top of the food chain in nursing and so I never really saw myself in that role,” she says. “I’ve come to realise that there are leaders the whole way through, especially on the clinical floor but also in academia and nursing policy as well. “Leaders can be anyone from the student on their first placement doing their very first prac all the way through to our Chief Nurse of New South Wales type of position.”
Forging the future
Recent figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia show the nation is now home to more than 355,000 practising nurses and midwives. As the largest group of healthcare practitioners and the frontline of the nation’s healthcare, nurses and midwives are being encouraged to take the lead and find their voice, whether it’s advocating for the patient, for the profession or for the future of the health system. As the nation’s pre-eminent nurse leader, Dr Rosemary Bryant, Commonwealth Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, says leaders are needed at every level of nursing and midwifery. Dr Bryant, who was honoured in the Queen’s Birthday honours list this year as an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the profession of nursing, says nurses and midwives have to be ready for the healthcare challenges that lie ahead. “We haven’t seen the full potential of nursing and midwifery, particularly nursing, being unleashed yet and I think we have got to be ready for that opportunity and grab it when we can,” she says. “There are 20 November 2014 Volume 22, No. 5
a number of areas where we will come into our own in the future…particularly in the area of primary healthcare. “We haven’t seen yet the contribution that nurses particularly can make to the care of those with chronic disease and the number of ageing in the community. At the moment, we have got a model which is focused on that care being delivered almost exclusively by GPs, although there is some movement. That, to me, is the next big area of opportunity for nursing particularly.” Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation (ANMF) Federal Secretary Lee Thomas has been advocating for nurses and midwives industrially, professionally and politically since she first made the transition to the union movement 17 years ago. Ms Thomas says it’s vital more nurses and midwives become champions on the healthcare front. “I think many nurses and midwives are leaders, it might be at the ward level or it might be in positions like mine. When the opportunities arise to be able to advocate on behalf of the patient or of the health system we should and we must take those opportunities. “We need to show leadership to ensure that governments understand the importance, particularly in our country of universal healthcare, of how the privatisation of our health system and its Americanisation puts at risk the fantastic and very well supported health system that we have in this country.”
Advocating for Aboriginal health
Poor family health spurred registered nurse Faye Clarke into pursuing a nursing degree as a mature age student. After losing both of her parents to illness and her sister and brother to suicide, Faye began working as a nurse at the age of 40. In the 10 years since, she has become a leading light in the fight to improve Aboriginal health. “I don’t feel like a leader - I have been here for all of five minutes in nurse years,” she says. “Having said that, because of my Aboriginality and because of the opportunities I have had, I have ended up in leadership roles.”
Faye Clarke
AS A ROLE MODEL, FAYE ALSO ENCOURAGES ABORIGINAL STUDENTS TO PURSUE A NURSING CAREER IN A BID TO BUILD A STRONGER ABORIGINAL NURSING WORKFORCE, WHICH IN TURN WILL DELIVER BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR ABORIGINAL PEOPLE.
Based in Victoria, Faye works at the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative as the care coordinator for Closing the Gap and as anmf.org.au