Michelle finds her calling thanks to grandma
Community and Oral Health Registered Nurse Michelle obtains a great feeling of fulfilment when she can lift patient’s day.
For Michelle Pitcher special memories of her childhood and her beloved grandmother were the driving force to inspire her to become a nurse.
“It started when I was younger,” Michelle said. “I was very interested in the different parts of the body and knowing everything about the way they worked.
“My grandma would sit down patiently and explain everything to me as I sat there.”
Michelle is a newly appointed Registered Nurse at the Brighton Health Campus who looks after elderly patients transitioning home or into a nursing home.
“I recently completed my first year as a Nurse Graduate at Community and Oral Health (COH) working across rehabilitation, interim and geriatric care before securing a permanent position,” she said.
“I have always loved being able to help people.
“I love putting a smile on people’s faces. Working with the elderly and spending the extra time with them to brighten their day and make them smile is so important.
“The feeling of fulfilment, when I can make people’s day just a little brighter when they might be down, there is literally no better feeling.
“That is what I strive for every day, by simply talking to patients and having some fun banter.”
While working in the community setting wasn’t Michelle’s preference, she is very glad that she did.
“The opportunities to learn something new has been really important,” Michelle said. “There is always something new to learn in the community setting, and it is very much like a hospital.
“I had a lot of support from my preceptors, educators, nurses and peers.
“Everyone was willing to answer any question I had and show me something I hadn’t done before like a urinary catheter insertion or replacing a stoma bag.
“They were happy to help and explain the process.”
As part of her graduate year, Michelle gained a lot of amazing skills working within a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.
This included great handover, medication management, wound care and therapeutic communication skills.
Community-based care is a vital part of Metro North Health’s ability to meet increasing patient demand on hospitals and expectations that health services are delivered closer to home.
Locally, COH operates hundreds of beds across Home Hospital, rehabilitation, transition care and specialist residential aged care services located at Brighton, Zillmere, Red Hill and Kippa Ring.
To find out more about nurse graduate opportunities across COH please visit Nursing careers | Community and Oral Health.