Faculty Focus
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I get five extra study days. I get five extra
exam days,” she says.
“Everything that I’ve requested I’ve
received, and I’ve got about 10–15 days
of study leave.
“So that’s a lot of time that I can work
on my master’s and also not be worried
about my financial situation because I’m
being paid for it.”
Polly Dufton, clinical nurse consultant
at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer
Wellness & Research Centre and current
PhD student, wasn’t always a natural
academic, but it is the pursuit of the
unanswered questions that drives her
to study.
“When you’re perhaps a little bit more
junior, you come across these questions
and you go, ‘Oh, well, what can I do
about it?’” she says.
“I feel like now I have more ability to
actually make changes with some of my
work, because I try to keep some of my
work as translational – for lack of a better
term – as possible so that it impacts the
work I do every day.”
Polly entered nursing through
an enrolled nurse program and,
surprisingly, struggled to get into a
bachelor of nursing, but she believes
her subsequent success is down to
hard work.
“Every time the offers came out and
it wasn’t mine, I was heartbroken,”
she admits.
“I don’t believe that a PhD’s got
anything to do with being smart,
because I didn’t do very well in Year
12 either, which I think is the other
interesting thing.”
Education and confidence go hand
in hand for Dufton. Completing her
postgraduate certificate and working
on her PhD has given her the skills to
implement researched knowledge into
her practice.
“Some of the stuff that you learn in
postgraduate education is about finding
evidence, and using evidence, and
making your practice reflect the evidence
that’s out there.
“It’s given me confidence in decision
making, confidence in communicating,
advocating for my patients, and I can
back it up with evidence.
“And often now that’s met with, ‘Okay,
great. [You] taught me something,’ from
the doctors,” she says proudly.
Undertaking study while working day
to day can be challenging. For Dufton,
her PhD coincided with a pregnancy, but
in tough times you find skills you didn’t
know you had.
“It’s very different now because I can’t
spend my evenings working and I can’t
spend my weekends working. It’s much
more challenging now trying to find the
time,” she says.
“I’ve become incredibly productive
in the hours that I do have to do work,
which is quite the skill that I have
mastered. But it’s very hard with a family
and other commitments,” she adds.
Nandi agrees that postgraduate study is
a big commitment and that every nurse
should consider what they are interested
in and if it is really for them.
“If you’re not sure about doing it, I think
look into what your end goal is,” she says.
I would expect by
second year a nurse should
be entering postgraduate
certificate qualification with an
intention to moving towards
a master’s.
“But I don’t think, at the end of the day,
any knowledge is wasted knowledge.
“There’s nothing to lose from it. It will
always help you. And it will always look
good on your CV as well.”
And much like Ward, Dufton says
lifelong education is about nurses gaining
recognition for the integral role they play
in healthcare.
“It’s about giving nurses the credibility
as being professionals and being a really
important part of that team that cares
for people.” ■
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