Gippsland celebrates double degree grads

The School of Nursing and Midwifery Gippsland campus is celebrating the first cohort of Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Midwifery students to complete the four-year degree and their success in securing sought-after graduate year employment in 2012.

In 2008, students entered the first year of the program which was developed to meet local health needs and the aspiration of many students to study both nursing and midwifery. Currently 76 students are enrolled in the course.

The graduating students have all found opportunities to further their careers in work and study. Most will work in local hospitals where they have undertaken clinical placements.

Students said they expected the transition to full-time employment to be smooth as they had already developed relationships with staff and were familiar with the work environment.

“We will be working with the health professionals who helped us along the way, people we have known for four years and are excited to see us complete the degree,” graduating student Jamie Counahan explained.

She is looking forward to beginning her graduate year at West Gippsland Healthcare where she will develop her skills in both nursing and midwifery.

“I always knew I wanted to ‘catch babies’ so when the double degree was introduced it was an ideal opportunity for me,” Jamie said.

The mature age student began the course 13 years after leaving school and initially found subjects like anatomy and physiology daunting, but she quickly adapted and now hopes to one day return to postgraduate study.

Fellow graduating student Stephanie Harris has secured a coveted graduate position at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.

She hopes working in a metropolitan hospital will expose her to a broad range of health issues and help her expand her clinical skills.

Stephanie’s career aspirations include working for a remote health service like the Royal Flying Doctors and to travel overseas to work.

Kahlee Galea also hopes her nursing and midwifery career will include working overseas. She is one of a number of graduating students who travelled to Sweden as part of the School’s international clinical placements program.

Kahlee spent seven weeks studying at the Jönköping University and working in the orthopaedic ward of a large hospital in southern Sweden.

“It was great to experience working in another country and learning how a different health system works,” she said.

She will complete her graduate year at Latrobe Regional Hospital where about 75 per cent of nursing staff have at some point studied at the School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Kahlee said she had always planned to study nursing before undertaking a postgraduate midwifery qualification. “So when the double degree was introduced at Monash it was a great option for me.”

Midwifery lecturer Maureen Miles said many of the courses offered at Gippsland were developed in collaboration with hospitals and health services in the region to meet local health needs.

“Our graduates have very high rates of employment, partly because they have the skills that are required by the healthcare industry, and can hit the ground running,” she explained.