Bowen Hospital Thrilled To Receive Award

On International Nurses Day hospitals and nurses were awarded for their hard work and contribution to the world of nursing, with Bowen Hospital recognised amongst the winners.

James Cook University (JCU) awarded Bowen Hospital for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning for Nursing and Midwifery.

Students from JCU said they experienced great opportunities, were treated respectfully, encouraged to be involved and felt supported by the registered nurses (RN) at the hospital, whilst completing their placement at Bowen Hospital.

The hospital staff do not know who nominated them for the award, but they imagine it was the students.

Since the early 1990’s Bowen Hospital has welcomed JCU students to their hospital to complete their placement.

Placements are essential and have to be completed by the students in order to get their degrees.

On placement, students see and learn from real life experiences.

At Bowen Hospital, the small size and rural setting provides students with a broader range of practical services, more than what they would experience in a CBD hospital.

“You’re a jack of all trades here, you don’t just get to do one area of health,” said Director of Nursing Facility Manager, Julie Minogue.

“You’re working with mental health, paediatrics, adults with respiratory disease, you're working in trauma and emergency, cardiac and resuscitation.

“We try to expose them to everything we possibly can.”

Bowen Hospital understand that it can be quite confronting but say it is important for the student nurses to learn as much as possible while they study.

Nurse Student Manager, Anne Buckingham said they train over 10 student nurses a year and that the students become a real asset to the team, helping to ensure smooth operation of the whole hospital.

In addition to students taking their placement, Bowen Hospital offers them paid work.

“At Bowen, we actually encourage students to work here during their time, while they’re doing their training,” said Ms Minogue.

“Once they've done their first year, they can come here, as a student in nursing, they're employed like an assistant in nursing, and are paid for their hours.

“They work at a lower level, so they can't make the decisions they make when they're registered nurses, but in third year, they start to get some patients allocated to them under the supervision of a registered nurse and we start to develop them.”

Director of Nursing Facility Manager, Julie Minogue and Nurse Student Manager, Anne Buckingham holding the award from JCU.

Clinical Nurse Jayde Knight, previous JCU Student and RN Georgie Guest, previous JCU Student and RN Stacey Harrex, RN Amanda Glazebrook, RN Amy Cunningham and Nurse Student Manager, Anne Buckingham. Photo credit: Daniel Heggie

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