Nursing students lend helping hands

The experience gives students practical skills and provides residents with much-needed healthcare support.

Project lead Brad Hodge said the initiative opened students’ eyes to the opportunities of working in rural healthcare.

“What we want is for the students to come and meet the community and recognise the need for them in the community,” he said.

“Getting the students to communicate in different ways to different groups and to really find out what life in the country is like ... to learn those stories, is so important.

“This is only a first-year experience, but the reality is if they have a good experience in a rural community ... (when) they’re starting to think about jobs, and they see a job advertised in Rochester, the word Rochester means something.”

This year the program will run in nine towns. including Rochester, Kyabram, Stanhope, Tongala, Lockington, Shepparton, Girgarre, Rushworth and Tatura.

A total of 24 students will take part in the program, splitting into three groups of eight.

One group will be stationed in the Kyabram hospital, another in the Kyabram main street and the third team will be an outreach team that will be travel to smaller towns and local organisations.

Students will provide clinical screenings assessing blood pressure, blood glucose, temperature, heart rate, oxygen saturation and pain scores.

With rural communities continuing to face shortages of health professionals, the program enables students to complete their placement hours in environments that support effective learning.

The participating students are able to work in a space where their learning needs are at the forefront without adding to the workload of already understaffed hospitals.

Mr Hodge said through the Healthy Towns Pop Up Clinics, students could gain confidence while also being exposed to regional and rural communities.

“What we’ve done is change the dynamic a bit, and put them in the community where ... (there are) learning experiences that match their needs,” he said.

“That means that their learning is so much quicker because they’re not in the hospital where the primary need is the patient and then the secondary need is the nursing student.

“Our focus is, (creating) amazing nursing students that are confident and competent ... and ensuring they have a really good experience that increases the likelihood of them wanting to work in a regional community.”

The outreach team will be in Rochester on Tuesday, November 18 from 9.30am to 4pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

For more information about the Healthy Towns program, visit tinyurl.com/m6pn6ccn