Registered nurse with 5 years’ experience. Originally registered in the UK with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in 2020. Throughout my time nursing in the UK, I have mostly specialised in Emergency nursing; however, I have also worked on several medical and surgical wards whilst undertaking agency shifts to enhance my knowledge of different areas of nursing; these include diabetes, renal, vascular, frailty, stroke, cardiology and palliative care. Since arrival to Australia in February 2023, I have completed numerous rural nursing contracts which I have enjoyed and equally learnt a lot.
Halls Creek is a small hospital situated in the Kimberly region. This hospital consists of a 3 bed ED and 8 bed ward. On this contract I have vastly developed my leadership skills , ensuring seamless continuity of care and staff coverage. I feel I exercised strong leadership and decision- making under pressure in this fast-paced healthcare environment.
Derby hospital is a small hospital based in the Kimberly region. On this contract I have conducted thorough patient assessments to identify changes in condition, promptly notifying physicians and initiating appropriate interventions when necessary. Enhanced patient satisfaction by providing compassionate, holistic nursing care that addressed physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Assisted in the training and mentorship of new nursing staff members, contributing to a positive work environment and high-quality patient care. On this contract it was a requirement to attend ambulance call outs, this was an area I enjoyed particularly as it developed my first responder skills.
Summary of Facility: Northbridge medical centre is a busy general practice in Perth CBD. The general practice offers a wide variety of services, therefore my role as the practice nurse is diverse. some of my key responsibilities include travel vaccinations, childhood immunisations, assisting with skin biopsy or lesions, wound management and developing holistic care plans for chronic conditions.
I work closely with government organisations such as WA public health to prevent disease progression, this includes contact tracing infections, monitoring patient conditions and following up with patients to ensure compliancy with correct treatment.
I have particularly enjoyed educating patients about their chronic conditions with the goal to prevent deterioration and reduce admissions to hospital, I have found this aspect of primary health rewarding.
Northbridge medical centre is devoted to childhood development, therefore a key role of mine at the centre is to ensure childhood immunizations are kept up to date and educate parents on the importance of the immunisation programme, I feel whilst working here my parent teaching skills have developed significantly.
Mullewa is a small town in the mid-west region of Western Australia, the population is currently approximately 300 people
The small hospital offers a 24/7 emergency room which can see a variable number of presentations each day.
Mullewa hospital has no on-site doctor and often runs on one registered, this can often be challenging with limited resources and staffing.
I feel on this contract I have been able to utilise my communication skills greatly as liaising with the medical staff on the ETS system is a crucial aspect of my role here.
Mullewa has a 90% aboriginal population and is currently facing many challenges with domestic violence, alcohol and drug misuse. I feel since I have been here, I have progressed in my management with dealing with these issues and increased my knowledge on the services available for support throughout Western Australia.
Rockhampton hospital is the main referral hospital for Central Queensland, the emergency department typically encounters an abundance of inter-hospital transfers from surrounding facilities. Rockhampton hospital has a particularly high level of acuity, seeing a multitude of resus and trauma situations including MVAS and farming accidents
I often worked with paediatrics and neonates while at Rockhampton, occasionally caring for these patients within the resuscitation unit, who where critically unwell, often having to transfer these patients up to the intensive care wards for further specialised treatment.
With Rockhampton offering many specialities, the emergency department also seen a variety of related presentations such as maternity and ophthalmology.
The Tweed heads hospital emergency department provides specialist services in Emergency Medicine and trauma care for all patients
The Emergency Department works closely with other Northern NSW Local Health District hospitals and facilities in the Gold Coast and Brisbane
This emergency department based in a busy and popular spot on the coastline makes this a busy department often seeing high acuity.
Cairns Base hospital is the largest major hospital and major referral centre in far north Queensland, making it arguably one of the busiest emergency departments in Queensland
With Cairns tropical environment typically, this hospital was exposed to injuries such as snake bites, marine stingers and surfing/ diving incidents.
Cairns Emergency department was organised and seen patients in a timely manner accordingly to triage score
Team working was a crucial aspect whilst working in this hospital.
Cairns also had its own dedicated paediatrics section to the ED, and I would often work within the paediatrics area, this allowed me to care for children of all ages up to 16, and also allowed me to develop my holistic skills ensuring that both child and parents were well looked after and understood what was happening while in hospital.
Julia Creek MPHS is a six-bed level one facility under the rural and remote clinical services capability framework compromising four aged care beds and two acute beds.
The facility provides low risk ambulatory care clinical services predominantly delivered by registered nurses
Julia Creek had a small population of 500 people, however the Emergency department is often busy due to events and festivals occurring in the local town
Julia Creek is a nurse led hospital, with 2 registered nurses rostered per shift.Often there is no doctor on site so careful triage and thorough assessment is crucially important, telehealth consultations with doctors from another facility were used if necessary to assess patients for RFDS transfer to another facility if required.
Mannum District Hospital is a 24-bed facility; consisting of 9 acute beds and 15 Aged care beds.
The hospital offers many services such as accident and emergency, general medicine and residential aged care.
With Mannum having a larger population of 3,283 the Emergency department was busy with often all beds being full. Mannum hospital had one registered nurse on every shift, it was through this contract I vastly developed my leadership and management skills as when on shift I oversaw the Emergency department, acute admissions and aged care facility.
This also included dealing with staff sickness/ rota issues, inducting students and dealing with complaints.
Emergency department,Renal, vascular, frailty, stroke, cardiology and palliative care. whilst in Australia I have also worked in multiple rural and remote settings.
Lois Elizabeth Kane
417 Working holiday visa
I Lois Kane hereby declare that the information given above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge as at 5/6/2025