Clinical Nurse Consultant for CareFlight, Jodie Martin (MClinEd(Cwk)’19), is taking care to the next level through postgraduate studies at Flinders University.
In her education and training role with Careflight, an integrated aeromedical emergency service, Jodie began a search for postgraduate courses in clinical education. She was looking for a course with a focus on interdisciplinary and interprofessional education, and wanting to learn from other postgraduate students working in a variety of clinical disciplines.
“The Clinical Education course at Flinders University met my learning interests, while at the same time had students from different clinical health disciplines,” says Jodie.
What started out as graduate certificate studies soon became a Master of Clinical Education by Coursework for Jodie.
“I was originally planning on doing a graduate certificate however, I was also interested in a lot of the elective units on offer and kept enrolling in some of those – before I knew it, I was looking at undertaking the Master by coursework to complete all the elective units that interested me.”
Through her studies, Jodie says she developed a professional interest in academia and learning in clinical practice, while also understanding that her own achievements and accomplishments should be shared with others.
“I kept in contact with one of my academic supervisors after graduating and we co-authored a paper together from a research project I undertook as part of the course*.
“Having a research paper published is a lot of work. It does feel like a great sense of accomplishment when you have your work peer reviewed by academics and experts who recommend it for publication and that is achieved.”
Every year CareFlight cares for thousands of patients, the majority suffering potentially life-threatening injuries or illnesses and in many other cases, without clinical care would be facing serious long-term consequences. Being a part of that critically important team as a Clinical Nurse Consultant in Education and Training, Jodie draws inspiration, both professionally and personally, from her sporting hero Ash Barty.
“Ash Barty always keeps her cool, doesn’t show emotion when faced with challenges and celebrates her achievements humbly.”
Find out more about studying postgraduate Clinical Education at Flinders University
Read more about Jodie’s work with CareFlight: Careflight welcomes all-female doctor team
*Education Needs of Australian Flight Nurses: A Qualitative Study