{"id":5702,"date":"2016-10-28T15:01:17","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T04:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=5702"},"modified":"2017-02-02T11:30:52","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T00:30:52","slug":"meet-our-nurses-kelpie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/meet-our-nurses-kelpie\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet our nurses: Kelpie"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Kelpie nurses Melissa, left, and Liz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the ‘earth’ level of the hospital is Kelpie; our adolescent and rehabilitation care ward.<\/p>\n

It has a multi-disciplinary model of care which involves physical care, treatment, emotional support, advocacy and education.<\/p>\n

We asked Melissa and Liz what life is like\u00a0as a Kelpie nurse.<\/p>\n

How is Kelpie different from the other wards? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Melissa:<\/strong> Kelpie has\u00a0a fun, relaxed vibe on the ward. We\u2019re about empowering young people and working closely with them to cater to their needs. We also have a lot of patients who stay for a long time, or who are return patients – we like to call them our frequent flyers.<\/p>\n

It looks like you’re a close team!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Liz:<\/strong> We really strive to work as a team. If you\u2019re having a tough shift, someone will always come out to help you.<\/p>\n

Melissa:<\/strong> We care about each other as much as the patients!<\/p>\n

Can you tell me about the type of patients you look after? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Liz:<\/strong> Kelpie\u2019s patient demographic is varied. We are the adolescent and rehabilitation ward, but we also take on a lot of oncology, respiratory, general medicine and surgical patients. We do our best to keep our patients safe and happy, no matter why they\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

What attracted you to working on Kelpie?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Melissa:<\/strong> I used to work on Cockatoo. One time I was caring for an adolescent patient and I\u00a0enjoyed building a rapport\u00a0with them; it made me realise I was all about adolescent medicine. I also heard the team on Kelpie were great. I’ve been here for four and a half years now!<\/p>\n

Liz:<\/strong>\u00a0I did my graduate year on Kelpie, and am now in my fourth year. I\u2019ve learnt so much!<\/p>\n

Why did you decide to get into nursing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Liz:<\/strong> I\u2019d always had an interest in health science and some of my friends were studying nursing, so I decided to give it a go and haven’t looked back.<\/p>\n

Melissa:<\/strong> I always wanted to be a nurse, I\u2019m a bit of a clich\u00e9! To think you can have an impact and really benefit someone\u2019s life and do\u00a0it in a really caring way is what drew me to nursing. I think all nurses have a similar personality. We are all caring and nurturing; we enjoy talking and being helpful.<\/p>\n

Is there a patient you cared for you who has stood out for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Melissa:<\/strong> All the families who come in that are here for a long time, they really engage with us and value us. It’s rewarding getting to know\u00a0them outside of their illness.<\/p>\n

Liz:<\/strong>\u00a0I really like caring for kids who have a disability. The\u00a0Kelpie team really value their individuality, and we strive to really get to know the patient\u00a0so we can do everything we can to keep them happy.<\/p>\n

What do you do to relax after a long shift? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Liz:<\/strong> Yoga, floristry, and I also love to travel. I try to have a mix of being\u00a0creative and going out to have fun with friends. Exercise is also a good way to be in a\u00a0moment where you’re not thinking about work, and it can be really refreshing.<\/p>\n

Melissa:<\/strong> Work life balance is important. I like being with friends, spending time in the sun and spending time with my family, who are a really big support. Exercise, as boring as it can sometimes be, keeps my mind healthy too.<\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t a nurse what would you be doing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Liz:<\/strong> Florist, or a travel blogger\u2026or maybe I could be the first travelling florist!<\/p>\n

Melissa:<\/strong> I\u2019d be a chef because I love food; it brings people together and makes me feel good. I also love a healthy debate and talking a lot, so like the idea of being a lawyer too.<\/p>\n

If you would like to support great care at the RCH, see www.rchfoundation.org.au.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0you’d like to know how about what to expect during your stay on Kelpie Ward, you can download the My RCH app here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, meet the nurses who work on Kelpie, our adolescent and rehabilitation ward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":5703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8971,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5702"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5854,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions\/5854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}