Nurses make up nearly half of Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN)’s 17,000-plus workforce.
There are enrolled nurses and registered nurses, nurses who specialise in aged care, community care and midwifery, ones who work in our Emergency Departments and Intensive Care Units and even nurses that specialise in caring for cancer patients.
This list just scratches the surface.
A nursing career at CALHN brings endless opportunities, with access to state-of-the-art medical facilities including South Australia’s flagship hospital, the Royal Adelaide Hospital and SA’s leading acute care and teaching hospital, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Proving that a nursing career is unlike any other is 30-year-old nurse consultant and Clinician PhD Pathway candidate Luke Shepperd, who joined CALHN as an early career nurse in 2020.
To celebrate his milestone five years with CALHN, we asked him five questions that reflect on his journey of growth, opportunity and purpose.
What made you choose a nursing career at CALHN?
Luke says CALHN’s support for learning and positive work culture drew him in as an early career nurse.
"CALHN offers fantastic mentorship and opportunities for growth with universities just across the road and the SAHMRI building, which is often used for education and collaboration," Luke says.
"There is support from the amazing education team, and the medical staff actively listen.
"Most of my colleagues come to work with a smile on their face. They love working here."
How did you find your niche in nursing?
"You have the nurses that want to work in the ICU, ED or surgery, just because it sounds good and it’s what they see in Grey’s Anatomy," Luke says.
"You have to be happy, specialised and enthused to work in those areas.
"I worked as an ICU nurse in my graduate year and realised that you get paid the exact same across the entire system."
Luke now works as a nurse consultant within the Care of the Older Person team at the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre Specialist Geriatric Unit.
"What matters is that you are doing what you love and finding what works best for you," he says.
Luke says it’s not about "flexing" the ward you are in, but what "brings you joy as a clinician and what makes you a nurse".
"And it’s asking people what their why is – 'why are you here? why are you in this role?'
"For me, my why is my great uncle who was living with dementia.
"I wanted to know more about dementia and that’s what kind of pivoted me into geriatrics and then it grew and grew and grew," he says.
What advice would you give to a junior nurse?
"A huge thing as a junior nurse is being open-minded," Luke says.
He says early-career nurses may encounter situations that differ from what they learn in university, but that shouldn’t dishearten them.
"Take the opportunities that arise, see how you go and take it as a learning experience," Luke says.
"If you don’t like it, that’s OK. Ask yourself what new skills you gained from the experience and what you learnt as a clinician.
"Don’t be scared of opportunity because you never know what comes around the corner."
If Luke could say one thing to his newly graduated self, it would be to "trust the process and believe in yourself".
"Always say 'yes' to opportunities," Luke says.
"You’re getting asked to take opportunities by people that have walked in your shoes, that have started off as junior nurses and are now nurse leads or directors.
"If you’re saying 'no', what is that holding you back from excelling as a nurse, a clinician?" he says.
"Trust your gut and follow your heart."
Why should someone choose nursing at CALHN?
Luke says CALHN is an inclusive and connected workplace with endless opportunities.
The scale of the network and access to modern facilities makes it the perfect place to grow as both a clinician and an active learner.
"Ask the nurse consultants that are around the ward, ask the clinical nurses 'how did you get here, what did you do, what can I do to grow?'
"There’s always help available."
How has CALHN supported your professional growth?
Luke says the opportunities for growth are unmatched.
"We are the only hospital network in the state that offers partially funded schemes to support clinicians to complete a PhD while working in the clinical area," Luke says
"Now that they’re enabling nurses to do that and not just medical support schemes, it’s an incredible opportunity.
"You just don’t hear of things like that, and I encourage every nurse who is considering a PhD to apply."
This article was prepared by the Central Adelaide Local Health Network and is reproduced here with permission.
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