Katrina Davis, MeeMee Steinberg and Emma Bidgood
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In a bid to ease increasing recruitment pressures in rural healthcare, Miles Hospital is proactively growing its own local nursing workforce.
‘Growing Our Own’ is an initiative the hospital implemented in a bid to support locals completing their nursing studies. Miles Hospital Director of Nursing, MeeMee Steinberg said the program continues to thrive.
“We have an Assistant in Nursing traineeship in partnership with the local school, that’s how many nurses at Miles Hospital start their career.
“Once they finish school and if they decided to pursue their Registered Nurse degree, we support them with time off for placements and study. If they are studying away, we always have AIN jobs available for them when they return on holidays.
“They know the people, know the community and know the culture of our facility, by the time they finish their studies, we have a selection of well-rounded homegrown Registered Nurses that we have the opportunity to employ at our rural facility.
“I’m very proud of everyone that wants to do their studies and want to stay in Miles, it’s hard to find people that want to come to Miles so the Growing Our Own initiative is very important,” Ms Steinberg said.
Emma Bidgood started her nursing career as an AIN on a school-based traineeship at Miles Hospital and is now employed fulltime as a Registered Nurse at the hospital.
“I then did my Certificate III in Individual Support which allowed me to continue working here as an AIN on uni holidays.
“Once I finished my degree, I started my career at Tara Hospital, I just wanted to get a bit more experience and work with a different team.
“But I loved working here when I was an AIN, I loved the team and the support and ultimately decided to come back to Miles and work as a Registered Nurse,” Ms Bidgood said.
Katrina Davis is working as an Endorsed Enrolled Nurse at Miles Hospital while completing her Registered Nurse degree.
“I’m currently in my second year of study, it’s going well.
“The best thing about working at Miles Hospital is the community, we’re a close-knit team. They’re also great about giving me time off when I’m on placement, it makes a huge difference.
Katrina Davis, Endorsed Enrolled Nurse at Miles Hospital
“We also get the opportunity to work in different areas, you could be in the Aged Care Facility one day and Acute Care the next. I hope to stay at Miles Hospital once I’ve finished my degree,” Ms Davis said.