Graduate story: Nora Fahndrich

Nora Fahndrich
Graduate Nurse
John Flynn Private Hospital, Gold Coast
Bachelor of Nursing

Nursing has provided me with a way to expand on my understanding of health and a means to help people and do something meaningful to me. The best thing about the course was that the lecturers and tutors were able to bring a lot of enthusiasm into the delivery of their topics. They made it fun and interesting to learn about the different aspects of nursing.

The practicums were always great, too, as they helped me to assimilate the theoretical understanding. They were always a steep learning curve and invaluable in the transition from theory to practice. Particularly, now that I am in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), I am applying much of the knowledge I gained through my University practicums.

During my rotations I have spent many months in the ICU and on the surgical ward. Surgical nursing taught me a lot about time management, team work, communication, and of course nursing care related to draining wounds, wound care, epidural management, IV management and so on. It was a great base for ICU where the focus is more on managing one-to-two patients but in greater depth.

Critical thinking is always necessary and I have learnt so much during my rotations, putting into practice a lot of things I learnt at Uni such as arterial blood gas analysis, systems and pathophysiology and in-depth patient assessment (cardiac, neurological and respiratory) which we don't have much time for on the ward.

New things for me have been learning to operate ventilators, central line management, taking blood samples wound dressing and learning about critical care drugs.

Updated: 29 October 2012