A compelling career path

9 May 2008

THERE is no doubt that Alice Springs Hospital’s general manager Vicki Taylor is passionate about her hospital, her staff, her career and her lifestyle.

“It’s an oasis. We have a fabulous lifestyle, a beautiful climate and a spectacularly beautiful outdoors lifestyle,” Mrs Taylor said.

“Alice Springs is a town that is like towns used to be – it has a strong sense of community fellowship and pride, and we are very proud that we are the centre of the oldest living culture in the world – the Aboriginal culture.”

Alice Springs Hospital is the regional base hospital of Central Australia, servicing communities across a one million square kilometre catchment area.

The 177-bed hospital, which boasts 800 staff, is a leader in Aboriginal cross-cultural treatment with nursing staff working with Aboriginal liaison officers and interpreters on a daily basis.

“Once you come here, you fall in love with the place. You often hear people say that they only came here for three weeks and they’ve been here 30 years,” Mrs Taylor laughed.

Thanks to the hospital’s involvement with leading research institutions across Australia, nurses at Alice Springs Hospital have access to the latest research in nursing and health care, and offers a supportive learning environment.

The hospital is a teaching hospital for Flinders University, Charles Darwin University, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and the University of South Australia.

“We provide training for junior doctors and graduate nurses with some 30-35 junior medical officers, about 20 graduate registered nurses and 10 graduate enrolled nurses,” Mrs Taylor said.

“We also have a strong group of overseas-trained doctors and nurses from many places including Ireland, England, Germany, Japan, China, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Philippines.

“Because there are so many staff here away from their family support, the hospital provides a highly-supportive environment. We pride ourselves on our strong sense of family and the diversity of our staff.”

The hospital caters to a large indigenous patient population (60% of patients are indigenous) and has a number of specialty-care areas including intensive care, special care nursery and maternity, as well as providing a broad range of allied health services such as rehabilitation, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and dietetics.

“You certainly have a very rich nursing experience when you come here and you can fast-track to extending your skill set because you get the opportunities that you would never face in larger city hospitals.”

“It’s a great place to up skill for overseas work and a good grounding for people wanting to work in Third World countries.
 

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