MACKAY Hospital and Health Service (HHS) welcomes another strong intake of graduate nurses for the year as the third orientation session reaches completion this week.
Acting Executive Director Nursing and Midwifery Paul McAllister said 88 newly qualified nurses have been recruited to the 2024 Mackay HHS Nursing and Midwifery Graduate Program.
“We are delighted to welcome our large annual cohort of graduate nurses to the health service where they will consolidate and further develop the clinical skills they learned at university,” Mr McAllister said.
The Mackay HHS Nursing and Midwifery Graduate Program is twelve months in duration across Mackay Base Hospital and rural hospitals.
“Graduate nurses undertake placements across any of the 25 clinical areas in the Base Hospital including mental health, emergency, renal, medical, cardiac, surgical, oncology and theatres, as well as across our rural facilities,” Mr McAllister said.
66 nurse graduates will join the team at Mackay Base Hospital, six will be based in Proserpine, three at Sarina and 13 will undertake rural rotations.
“They will be supported with mentoring, theoretical and clinical guidance to ensure we build safe, confident and competent nurses,” Mr McAllister said.
“Most graduates studied at CQUniversity and James Cook University and many are from the Mackay region.
“We are also pleased to welcome nursing graduates from other parts of Queensland as well as NSW and the ACT.”
One local nursing graduate, Catherine Johnstone, joined the HHS in the December intake.
Catherine, who is originally from Moranbah but grew up in Mackay, made a career change to nursing after experiencing great care from our paediatrics team.
“I was an environmental advisor in Brisbane, but we moved back to Mackay during COVID,” she said.
“We had a few experiences where our daughter was quite sick, and it was the staff here in paediatrics that made me want to go into nursing.
“They provided amazing care, addressed all my concerns and really supported us during our visits, and I want to do that for other patients and families.”
Brianna McLoughlin has moved from Canberra to Mackay for her post-graduate year.
“The prospect of working in Queensland was attractive, and I got the option of working in theatre here, which was my preferred clinical area,” Brianna said.
Ebony Sherry has been on an international journey to complete her studies.
“I am from Newcastle in NSW but I completed my nursing studies in New Zealand because that is where my partner is from, and COVID affected my ability to return to Australia,” Ebony said.
“When we were returning to Australia, I said ‘let’s go to Queensland’.”
Mackay Hospital and Health Service continues to support graduate registered nurses after their first year of professional practise with excellent retention rates.
