COHUNA District Hospital has appointed its first nurse practitioner, Heather Spence OAM, in “one of the most transformational changes in years”.
Mrs Spence describes herself as an everyday person who likes to study and loves teaching, but says her commitment to fulfilling her new role as a nurse practitioner will be laying the foundation of a more capable and equipped medical service at CDH.
Nurse practitioners are qualified to assess and treat patients, prescribe medication, order tests and refer to doctors.
This is particularly important in rural areas such as Cohuna.
“Here you get the chest pains, you get the thumb cut off, the chainsaw accidents, anaphylaxis, everything, so you must be multi-skilled,” Mrs Spence said.
“Even if there is a shortage of GPs there will be avenues for people to be cared for, so they can present to urgent care and still be managed in a professional manner.”
Mrs Spence began her career in nursing in 1981 and started studying 30 hours a week to become a nurse practitioner in 2014 alongside her full-time workload at the hospital.
“It was a very steep learning curve,” she said.
“It was first time I had been to uni, didn’t know how to reference, didn’t know how to do anything, but I learnt very quickly and loved it.
“Once I learned more, I needed to know more.
“I thought, ‘I don’t know enough to look after my community; I can’t prescribe until I know more’ and it just made me push myself even further.”
Mrs Spence said she wanted to ensure her achievement was felt beyond her own efforts, and the community was well cared for even after she retired.
“This isn’t about me; this is about paving the way for the next lot of nurse practitioners,” she said.
“I will have nurse practitioner candidates who I will be helping, which is fantastic.
“I think that’s what the future will be, in collaboration with our GPs, but definitely we will have more skilled staff.”
CDH chief executive Bernadette Loughnane told The Gannawarra Times that Mrs Spence set an example of what nurses could achieve in Cohuna.
“She is qualified and has decades of skill; she’s very experienced as a clinician and knows her community exceptionally well,” Ms Loughnane said.
“She’s the first nurse practitioner to be appointed at Cohuna.
“It lifts the profession of nursing in Cohuna to a new level.”
For Mrs Spence, every day is a chance to help her community.
“If I can make a difference – whether that be someone dying and helping them have a painless or comfortable death and including the family – then that’s good, I’ve done my job,” she said.
In addition, CDH has collaborated with Northern District Community Health for staff to receive Mental Health First Aid training in the past months.
