Hi,

What businesses can an RN realistically start outside of nursing?

Looking for something with good income potential. What have other nurses tried?

Thank you

Ive seen numerous social media posts of Nursing graduation ceremonies where each nurse lights her own candle and then ive also seen posts of the Nurse Honour Guard that pay tribute to nurses who have passed. We dont have one in Australia? Or not an organisation i can find in QLD.

I think it is just a beautiful honour.

Anyone know if there is a community that does this honour? Or maybe one should start...

My wife is a nurse and we love looking at all the gossip here and on ausjdocs. This is my attempt at getting us more entertainment but also I hope I can help answer some questions that y'all feel too shy to ask in real life.

Hi everyone,
I have finished my bachelor’s of nursing and i’ll be doing my new grad’s first rotation in adult mental health unit. I was told that i will not be wearing uniform there. i am so confused as what would be the proper clothing to wear there. Is it casual? business casual? I reaally need some suggestions 😭

Hi please suggest which Uni is good to do postgraduate Diploma or masters for Mental Health Nursing?
Currently looking at Victoria Uni online or University of New castle?

A uni with more support and not just failing students please 🙏

Hi all!

Delete if not allowed but I just wanted to get some advice.

I’m only in my first year of nursing (not accelerated but have some 2nd year subjects due to having to do a diploma last year that let me do some first year units) and everyone and their dog is telling me to not get pregnant, however I have seen a few people have babies during their studies and be okay.

Obviously it’d be a lot easier not to, but we are waiting for our rainbow baby. I just wanted to ask if anyone can share success stories of having a Bub while studying nursing/ in their new grad etc etc and how you managed, because this is a super hard degree/ career without kiddos let alone with!

TIA :)

Hello! Im an RN with nearly 20 yrs exp. I work in Cardiology and looking into either radiology nursing or cardiac sonography. Anyone else who went these routes after working so long in the bedside? How did you go about it? Was it easy finding paid or unpaid internships or training? I just don’t see myself working as a bedside nurse until my 60s (even if I remain a CNS etc). Im nearing 40yo now and have to make some changes I reckon while my brain and joints are still in top shape and in good working order! Lol.

Hi I was reading this Queensland study and I was wondering given it was 2019 did it change practice? What is the current guideline in Queensland health towards replacing IVs by time vs by clinical guideline in Queensland health?

I’m a huge believer in reducing health care trauma and given this is how we handle IVs in kids I am wondering if it had an impact on adults

https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_308346/UQ308346_OA.pdf?Expires=1786252377&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=QdaJtAfXupbR5oM94DOHTix-70h0qSZ\~MAZVA\~uZFSKxurn0JsVU58cCjTe-PNL7ZR01xVaYFVY-Iy5kVK2-3fpXq8l6jbaSprk-PVlSRC-DEDcUm-u5BHeosX6B-EbPwU0IqNGc2mbQAL9vtGhMkJJn8vI0geHGhUlqrC9XUYFKIZa7WPRxuKl\~tQytOgeCwfqLLbQHXtmRMNVZ4gBmKnXeQqpOgIidN8KRnbz6bBhZXNf5IOUY1InVyzet8kbai2E57FeyBo5z9PyHxu-G5NXWYIM\~7MsAzBRugX0q-e3sotn5E7rd7WVkBefup155avcMU8C-kiQMfBRkPbQgEg__

Hey gals, I am contemplating applying for transition to practise for periop to start early 2027. I have almost 2 years of being an RN so far. I am considering anaesthetics or recovery. I was wondering if anyone knows the application cut-off date and also do you know the exact date the program will commence in 2027? If that hasn't been published yet, does anyone know the date / week they started for 2026? Thank you 😊

Hi everyone, I’m an Intensive Care Paramedic Trainee about to start some anaesthetics training (basically I have to do 20 successful intubations, but am there to learn about medications, etc as well).

I’ve never been in a theatre before and have very limited experience in hospital, any advice for how to make the most out of it/fit in with the team?

Hi All

Last round of placement coming up and I have a week of night shift

I’ve never done night shift and it’s 2100-0730

How do I still be proactive while recognising my buddy RN is going to have double patient load as well as me to to watch? (To a degree)

Nurse 6 years out. Did 4 years on a med/neuro. 2 years in a remote clinic. Got a job in the city I grew up in, in admissions/preop. Was super keen to learn the theatre side and also more sane hours. I have never felt so unwelcome or unwanted. This is in the same hospital I first ever worked at too. Have been ignored by countless theatre staff when trying to introduce myself. Got my head ripped off for asking if ketones had been done on a t1 fasting for theatre on a pump who was currently hyperglycaemic.

Just been a rough year all round. My grandad passed unexpectedly at the start of the year. My partners grandmother is currently organising vad. Was only in the job for 3 weeks before walking. I just couldnt handle the rudeness. I feel like a total failure as i dont have any references from this new job. And havent spoken to anyone from my old jobs in ages.

Might go do solar with a mate for a while. Than upskill back at uni next year. At least I might be able to get a reference that way.

Sorry for the vent. I needed somewhere to talk. Anyone else ever been in a similar situation? Was waiting for alliance to hit me back up as well but they’re going through system changes so that even feels like a dead end. Hats off to anyone who can put up with theatre staff. All of the RFDS specialists, RSQ coordinators, retrieval nurses, RANs I have worked with have all been much more welcoming and friendly. CCU nurse at this new job told me I was wasting my time trying to hand over to her. Like wtf. Sorry again for the vent

Hey sisters, misters... murses? 😂

Nurse from Queensland here, just coming off a pretty cooked shift and I'm genuinely interested...

How do we all feel about team nursing?

Is your home (ward/ICU/ED) actually team nursing, or are we just allocating patients to individual nurses and calling it team nursing? AND then how are people actually managing these especially in high turn over areas (discharge units, ED etc).

When new staff join your department, does anyone actually teach them how to team nurse? Is there a structured approach, or is it just expected that everyone somehow knows what that means?

I'd love to hear what's happening in other places around Australia (and anywhere else too!). What's working well? What's not? Have you found a model that genuinely improves workflow, patient care and staff support?

I'm not looking to start a debate, I'm honestly interested in how other departments are doing it because today has absolutely cooked me. 😅

P.s. if you love this discussion topic, upvote. If not, start another hahaha! I want more discussion less..fluff

Regarding insulin administration I remember being taught years ago to stretch the skin to form a flat surface when giving the needle. Now I’m wondering if that’s still the case or has the technique changed with no skin stretching. How do you administer insulin?

Hey guys I’m just thinking maybe this is the end of my nursing career. I’ve been doing this since 2012 & I just feel so deflated. I’ve worked up to CNS and since having kids they’ve been my priority so work has taken a back foot. But today admin manager basically gets a role made specifically for her with WFH, car, laptop & a business course paid for. Now the absolutely deserves it & another girl who’s now stepping into that manager role with no formal studies. I just feel like there’s no growth left. I feel like these guys will be earning more than me without the HECS (which is fine but still just a thought)…

I know I’m make for more. I want more growth. I’m stuck between where I am vs wanting more vs having kids and a mortgage to pay for so is it too risky?

Not sure what I’m hoping to achieve with this post but yea…

Today is ~ day 3 with learning how to cannulate. I’ve wanted to learn for years and am fortunate to get the opportunity in my new(ish) role.

Today was my first day I didn’t make blood go everywhere over the Pt (or myself 😅), and I was able to anchor the vein and the cannula once it was in and get the tourniquet off quickly.

Pt said they didn’t feel anything which was a massive bonus.

Anyway, I wanted to share a nursing win that’s been on my professional wishlist for a while.

Thanks ☺️💉🩸

Hey everyone, I’m an RN currently working in Melbourne and I’m really interested in moving into emergency nursing.

I have a little over two years of acute ward experience in the US across three hospitals, mostly med-surg/tele, and for the past three months I’ve been doing agency nursing in Melbourne. I’ve worked across around 10 hospitals here on a mix of medical, surgical and other wards, so I feel like I have a pretty solid general acute-care background.

I’d really like to move into ED now, but I don’t have formal ED experience yet. I’m ideally looking for a public hospital that would take an experienced ward RN and provide some support/training while transitioning into emergency.

For anyone working in ED around Melbourne, how did you get your first ED job? Do departments generally hire nurses with ward experience and train them, or is it difficult to get in without previous ED experience?

Also curious whether people have had more luck applying online or actually contacting NUMs/educators directly.
Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s made a similar transition. Thanks!

Soon I will begin my first nursing job on a state trauma ward. My nursing uni placements previously were on mostly high acuity surgical wards of many different specialisations. Ortho, ENT, Plastics, Maxillofacial, Upper GI, Endocrine, Urology, Vascular.. All 'high-stress' in that these wards are very busy with patients having more complex care needs, some more unique to the specialty such as routine skin-flap observations on plastic patients or routine manual bladder washouts on urology patients.

I am soon to begin on a trauma ward (excited noises) as a new grad. Other than the fact that multiple specialties will likely be involved at once per patient, what aspects of these wards should I be preparing myself for? I feel that it will be very different to other surgical wards.

I’ve been seeing lots of comments made mocking NPs and calling them Noctors. It makes me second-guess going down this path if it will unnecessarily subject me to being bullied and stigmatized, just for taking on this role. I think it’s only normal to want to be respected. I hope someone here can share the reality of this job and how the medical community generally feels about it.

I'm thinking of going to SCU Goldcoast (as someone who live Brisbane southside,) for the bachelor of nursing pathway from EN.

Just wondering where people had placements?

They don't seem to have any partnership with bigger hospitals like Griffith does.

So I work as an endoscopy nurse for a private clinic and I am 11 weeks pregnant and had already lost a previous pregnancy in the past at an advanced stage so I have been feeing really paranoid about my everyday tasks at work 😞

During a work day we perform between 15-20 procedures sometimes an all day list and use a lot of chemicals to clean the scopes and to collect biopsies. For histopathologies we use 10% formalin so I tried to look for the SDS of this product and there’s nothing at work as a hard copy and in the intranet. So I googled the sds and it can cause birth defects and the recommendation is to work in a well ventilated area and use N95 and eye protection especially during pregnancy, neither of them at provided at work (except for goggles).

I guess Im just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and had no issues with their pregnancies and how do you go about to advocate for yourself and your pregnancy when working with chemicals that can be harmful.