Tuesday 12 May is International Nurses Day, so we spoke to Dr David Pickles of our Riverland campus, who is equipping a new generation of nurses to enrich the health workforce and care for our communities.
What is your role at Flinders University and what does your work involve?
I am a registered nurse employed as a lecturer in nursing for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences based at the Flinders University Riverland Campus in Renmark.
At the Riverland campus we offer the full three-year Bachelor of Nursing Degree program. Currently we have over 50 nursing students enrolled in the program, these are all ‘local’ students, but they come from as far afield as Mildura in the East, Waikerie in the West and Karoonda in the South. I teach across all three-year levels of the BN program, conducting classroom tutorials and workshops in our clinical nursing skills laboratory.
Can you briefly describe the journey that took you to this point in your career?
In 2008 I commenced sessional teaching in the Bachelor of Nursing program at Flinders in Bedford Park (Sturt Campus). Wanting a change of scenery, I took a full-time position as a Lecturer in Nursing with the then University of Ballarat (now Federation University) and was based at their Horsham campus in Western Victoria.
Circumstances brought me back to South Australia in 2015 and, as I was keen to continue working in a rural location, was fortunate to secure a teaching position with Flinders once again, and am now based at Renmark.
What is the most enjoyable aspect of your work?
Seeing students from the first day they set foot on campus to the day they graduate from Flinders, become registered nurses and valuable members of our health workforce.
Can you describe a challenge and how you dealt with it?
Living and working in a rural community can be very rewarding, it can also be challenging due to many support services being quite distant. Staff and students work together to support each other, we are quite a close-knit community who band together to face challenges as they arise.
What is one of your proudest moments?
Being able to have my parents and my son attend my graduation ceremony for my PhD in 2016.
What do you like to do in your ‘spare time’?
Home renovations as well as enjoying walks along the banks of the Murray River and Lake Bonny near where I live. Having spent several years in a past life working in China and the Philippines, I caught the travel bug and really enjoy travelling, particularly in East and South East Asia.
Unfortunately, due to other commitments, I haven’t had as much opportunity for travel in recent years. Visiting my son who lives and works in Thailand is high on my next destination list.