This month, a thousand new faces are starting their new clinical professions across multiple Monash Health sites. Of the new starters are 436 Nursing and Midwifery graduates who commenced early this year with a cohort larger than any intake of Monash Health graduates before.
More than 30% of the graduates commencing this month are previous Monash Health employees, including former Registered Undergraduate Students of Nursing (RUSON) and Registered Undergraduate Students of Midwifery (RUSOM) like Alexa Enk. Because of her prior experience, Alexa’s start in the Double Degree Nursing/Midwifery Graduate program is a matter of coming back to work – except now she wears a different outfit.
“I did RUSON in the Special Care Nursery in the Monash Children’s Hospital. And then I did RUSOM at the post-natal ward,” Alexa said.
“It was pretty cool coming in on my first day in my blue uniform (in contrast with the grey uniforms of the RUSON/RUSOMs). The whole post-natal ward was like, ‘what? She’s now a registered midwife!’ So that was exciting. They knew me as a student and now they know me as a Registered Midwife (RM).
“People always think they know less than they actually do. So it’s been pretty cool to see how much more I actually know as a Registered Nurse (RN) and RM than as a student.”
Since starting her graduate program, Alexa has been making most of her support networks at Monash Health and enjoying the new role.
“In the Nursing/Midwifery Graduate Program you get 3 months in post-natal, then 6 months in birth suite, then 3 months in nursing.
“I like being able to chat with my patients being my patients, help them in the way they want to be helped, and being able to advocate for them in what they want to achieve with their goals.
“I think it’s really good while you’re in your graduate year to experience those higher-risk situations while you still have the support of your graduate team and the educators as well. So when you experience that outside of your graduate year, you’ll have more of an idea and know what’s going on.”
Alexa credits being in the Monash Health RUSON and RUSOM program for building her skills, experience and confidence while completing her double degree at La Trobe University.
“I recommend anyone that’s doing nursing and midwifery to start off as a RUSON or RUSOM earlier. I felt comfortable starting my graduate year because I already knew the team and I knew my way around the hospital. You learn those same skills in RUSON/RUSOM that you’re going to do as an RN/RM anyway. The scope of practice is a little bit different, but I think it made it an easy transition into the graduate program.”
From the time she was born at the Moorabbin Hospital, Alexa has always been sure of her career path.
“I wanted to be an obstetrician when I was 4 [years old]. We had family friends who had that kind of job. And as I got older I thought, maybe more a midwife.
“I enjoyed more the normal side of birth rather than the chaotic emergencies that the doctors have to deal with. And being able to help patients have the best experience that they can possibly have is more what I wanted to do.
“Because I really enjoy that aspect of being with the woman and helping women… helping people feel their best and advocating for people. So having the job of a midwife was always a big dream of mine because not many people can say that they get to deliver babies and bring life into the world.”
As for what’s next in her career, Alexa is looking forward to the diverse pathways that Monash Health offers.
“After my graduate year I want to do a Transition to Specialty Practice that Monash Health offers. It’s like a second graduate year, but you get to specialise in an area. So I think I’d still like to do midwifery but do emergency nursing and paediatrics as well. That’s one of the reasons I chose to come to Monash because of the programs they have.”
To Alexa, our commencing graduates and interns, welcome to Monash Health! We are delighted to have you join us and take your first steps in your professional clinical careers, we’re here to help and smooth the transition path as much as possible.
