Australia BLOG #1,
Orientation week
Adelaide, Australia
Jan 4-8, 2011
Australia 2011 Group
U of S Nursing Students in Australia
Left to Right: 1. Chelsea Lipinski, 2 Ashley Boyko, 3 Stephanie Bryden, 4 Mallory Luscombe, 5 Kristyn Wiebe, 6
Teneille Ledding, 7 Bailey Wolfe, 8 Rachelle Chin, 9. Ashlie Carder
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Sydney Wildlife World
Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia. G’day mate from across the world! As we arrived into Australia on Dec. 28, 2010, we
have been here for almost two weeks. It has been great so far. Before going to Adelaide we spent one
week in Sydney. Sydney was great! There are a lot of touristy things to do there. We went to the Sydney
Wildlife world and the Aquarium where we saw a number of Australian animals that were quite
different from home. We toured around the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera house, and took a lot
of great pictures (Stephanie B., 2011).
Arriving in Sydney, Australia was the first time I have ever been overseas. The flight was long, but it was
exciting to step out of the airport and feel the heat of Australia! The jet lag was evident but not too bad
due to all the excitement to go and experience this beautiful country (Kristyn W., 2011).
After enduring a long 31 hour flight we landed in Sydney. The first few days in Sydney were
filled with jet-lag and sight-seeing. We woke up late, went to bed early and in the time in
between we visited Darling Harbour, Sydney Wildlife World and Sydney Aquarium. It was so
great to see all the ‘Australian Critters’ like kangaroos, emus, koala bears and kookaburras.
Hopefully as the trip goes on we will be able to observe these animals in their natural settings
instead of in a glass cage (Bailey W., 2011).
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New Year’s Eve in Sydney Harbour
Bondi Beach, Sydney , Australia
New Years Eve. New Years in Australia is a way bigger event then it is back in Canada (probably
because it is celebrated here first, after New Zealand). It is advertised all over the place and
every business is hosting some sort of event that night (Bailey W., 2011). New Years was
spectacular! We spent it on a boat in Sydney Harbour watching fireworks. We also spend a few
days at Bondi Beach, the weather was great! It was really hot, and a relaxing week before
heading into Adelaide to start our nursing adventure! (Stephanie B., 2011).
Culture Shock. As the first few couple of days went by, I started to experience some the culture
shock I had been warned about. It may have been influenced by the tourist attractions we were
visiting, but the price of food here is unbelievable expensive. I am also having difficulty getting
used to the lingo and accents here. I didn’t think it would be much of a problem but I am finding
it takes longer to process/translate even in brief interactions. Simple things like
‘bathroom/washroom’ are simplified even further to just ‘toilet’ and every meal of the day
seems to be called ‘tea.’ I’m sure once we get into the hospital setting these changes will be
even more prominent. I also experience a withdrawal of Ketchup in our first two weeks, we
can’t seem to find it anywhere (Bailey W., 2011).
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Orientation week in Adelaide, Australia Jan 4-8, 2011
Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Australia
Glenelg Beach Hostel
Glenelg Beach Hostel. We headed to Adelaide on Jan 2, 2011 for orientation week. We booked
into the Glenelg Beach Hostel and met up with the rest of our group of nine. We had a blast
getting to know each other - spending many nights talking and laughing in the hostel like we are
kids at summer camp! We navigated our way through the city, enjoyed time at the beach and
tried surfing (Kristyn W., 2011). We were thrilled with our accommodations because everyone
we met was friendlier than they were then in Sydney. Glenelg is beautiful, the beach is located
only 200 meters away from our hostel. The streets of Glenelg are always busy along Jetty Road
and the atmosphere is quite remarkable. However, I did notice that the food in Glenelg as well
as Sydney was very expensive. I thought that maybe the fruit would be cheaper here but as it
turns out, since Queensland is flooding fruit is more expensive because they are some of
Australia’s major fruit producers. We were told that through our stay here we would
continuously see the food prices increase (Ashlie C., 2011).
Adelaide. Orientation week began January 4th at Sturt Campus in Adelaide (Ashlie B., 2011).We
used the very ‘tourist-friendly’ public transit system to the campus, which is accessible from
most areas of the city for a rate of $2.30 (which is comparable to Saskatoon’s system) (Bailey
W., 2011). At the university we met for the first time met Annette Stenberg (international
program manager) and Prof. Linda Starr (Associate professor in Nursing and Midwifery
program). We were broken into two groups and given the roster for our placements in Gawler
and Berri. (Bailey W., 2011). Prof. Linda Starr gave us a presentation on Australia and their
health care system. Interesting facts learnt from the presentation about Adelaide included:
Adelaide is the capital of South Australia, it contains approximately 1, 000, 000 people, it is
located on 60 kms of coast line and it contains a Mediterranean climate (Ashlie B., 2011). Linda
had our Flinders University uniforms for us to wear in the clinical setting (that we purchased for
$36 each before we came) (Stephanie B., 2011).
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Flinders University logo
School of Nursing and Midwifery
Flinders University. Linda also presented information of Flinders University. We discovered that
Flinders opened in 1966. It now holds 15,500 students of which 18% are international, 654
academic staff and 94 other staff members. Flinders offers 54 bachelor degrees and every
program or degree has a PhD course. Flinders campus is a total of 165 hectares (Ashlie B.,
2011).
Flinders University Campus. Annette then took us for a tour of the campus, it is beautiful, there
is a national park right on campus or between the main campus and Sturt campus where the
School of Nursing and Midwifery are. We got to see the library and the student centers, they
remind me of the U of S which is interesting how similar they can be. The flora and fauna on
campus I found to be beautiful, much like at home but I think the U of S campus is much more
planned and maintained while Flinders I found to be more natural and had a bush feeling to it.
We got to go see the International Student Center so if we had problems they would be able to
help us (Teneille L., 2011).
Flinders School of Nursing and Midwifery. The degree program was established in 1975 and
has about 2400 students (23.6% international). The nursing degree here is a three year degree.
There is also an option of four years which would earn you a “double degree”. A double degree
would include a nursing degree as well as mental health and midwifery courses. They do not
take paediatric courses like we do in Canada, but they can obtain a child and adolescent
certificate (Stephanie B., 2011).
Australia’s Legal system. II also learned quite a bit about Australia’s Legal system. They have a
federal (commonwealth) government, which governs the whole country, and a state law
government, which governs each state.
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“Sim Man”
“Sim Baby”
Simulation labs. Annette gave us a tour of the university’s new state-of-the-art simulation labs
for the health science colleges. They have a complete replica of a hospital unit including a
medication room, patient bathroom, numerous beds with simulation dolls, electronic charting
system and a maternity suite. Each bedside allows 4-5 students to work inter-collaboratively on
patient assessments and mock situations. There is also an area in which the nursing students
can work with other health sciences such as the paramedics and occupational therapists in an
inter-professional environment (Bailey W., 2011).
Clinical Placements. The federal government now has control over clinical placements as
opposed to the university faculty. This was to manage the many nursing students from the
many Uni’s so that the hospitals are coordinated (Rachelle C., 2011). Apparently, this initiative
will provide high quality clinical placements in diverse settings to attract students to different
areas of Australia and to provide the opportunities of access to healthcare, regardless of the
area (Mallory L., 2011). Also now there is national regulation of the professions and the
students (Rachelle C., 2011).
Aboriginal population. It is very interesting to hear that Aboriginals here have many of the
same health problems and like in Canada have detriments to their living situations such as
lower education, high morbidity rates and poverty (Teneille L., 2011). Some aboriginal people
live in more rural areas, and may even stay in “humpies” which are like little open shacks with a
fire outside the door for cooking. Partly due to weather conditions, the Indigenous in Australia
can live outside. This is a more traditional way of living and is not exclusive to the entire
aboriginal population (Mallory L., 2011). We were told some seem to resist the western
conventions of housing and work culture. For example, when offered government housing they
are likely to break windows, pull out appliances and make stone fireplaces to make the house
more like a humpy. However, this causes many to view the Aboriginals as ungrateful and
primitive (Rachelle C., 2011).
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Koala Bear
Yunggorendi First Nations Student Centre
Flinders
University
Koala Bear. We then went to tour the student library and got our Flinders university student ID cards. As
we were walking we saw a wild Koala Bear in a tree, it was pretty cool! We toured around the main
campus- seeing the plaza, library, shops, buildings, etc. We also stopped into the International Student
Services unit to say Hello from Canada (Stephanie B., 2011).
Yunggorendi First Nations Centre. We then went down to the Yunggorendi First Nations centre
and were given some information about the services offered for the Aboriginal students in the
university. It is a very nice centre with a variety of Aboriginal art hanging on the walls and 12
staff available in a variety of positions to help the students throughout their University
experience. This support included an orientation session, tutoring services, and some financial
support through scholarships. Professors were also hired through this service and offered a
few classes that focused on Aboriginal studies. I think this is similar to the First Nations centre
offered at home which also offers support to our First Nations population (Chelsea L., 2011).
They only have 160 Indigenous students (Stephanie B., 2011).
Nurse Practitioner. Particularly, I found interesting the process to become a Nurse Practitioner.
Similarly to Canada, NPs have experienced much resistance from the medical profession,
making it hard to advance their practice in Australia. In South Australia, if an RN wants to
become an NP, he/she must collect a ton of information and create a very large profile, submit
it and present it to a board that decides if he/she will become an NP or not. If NP status is
granted, that NP status only applies to the nurse's current position and will not transfer over if a
nurse wants to change jobs. This may differ in other parts of Australia, as an RN I was speaking
with, Fiona, has a friend in another part of the country that went through a different process to
become an NP, more similar to the one Canada has in place (Kristyn Wiebe, 2011). Another
challenge is that NPs have great difficulty getting insurance to cover their practice; most
insurance companies refuse to cover NPs (Rachelle C., 2011).
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Tram on Jetty Road to downtown
Downtown Adelaide
Windshield Survey/ Scavenger Hunt. We met Annette for breakfast this morning in Glenelg
beach, where she gave us a list of tasks for our scavenger hunt around Adelaide. This exercise
was basically as an opportunity to use the public transit system, explore the city and make all of our
travel arrangements for getting to our clinical placements. It was very helpful for us (Kristyn W., 2011).
We were to take a tram to the central railway station and find which train would take us to
Gawler, and then we needed to find the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). The RAH is one of the
public hospitals in this city and it provides many of the specialized services, such as cardiology,
burns unit, etc. On the way to the RAH we passed by the Adelaide State Library, the museums
and Government House, one of the University of South Australia many Campuses, Botanic
Gardens and the historic buildings in that area (Rachelle C., 2011).
Smoking. I have noticed a lot of people smoking since coming to Australia. When looking at
the statistics, they show that in 2008, 20% of South Australians aged 15 years and over were
smokers (Cancer Council SA, 2008). This is two percent higher than Saskatchewan’s statistic of
18% of 15 years or older (Canadian Cancer Society, 2010) (Chelsea L., 2011).
Health Care Acts. Prof. Starr told us that the consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care
Act was created in 1995 and states that anyone over 16 years of age has the right to refuse
medical treatment. The Children’s Protection Act of 1995 states that individuals are mandated
to report any type of abuse. The policy is to directly report to the police. The Age Care Act of
1997 states that elder abuse is also mandated to report but only if you are an employee (Ashlie
B., 2011).
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Flinders Medical Center
Flinders Medical Center
Flinders Medical Centre (FMC). In the afternoon we met up with Prof. Linda Starr and Annette
Stenberg for a tour of the Flinders Medical Centre (FMC). Kim Dixon and another staff member
of the hospital toured us through the ER, ICU, Liver Transplant Unit, and Cardiac Care Unit
(Ashlie B., 2011). FMC is a partner with Flinders University and serves as a public teaching tool
for its students. There is also a private aspect to the hospital, as Australia’s health care system
is both private and public. FMC has approximately 550 beds, served by 1,300 staff members
and 500 volunteers (Bailey W., 2011). As I walked through the hospital to our next area to tour,
I noticed a lot of Aboriginal artwork on the wall. It looked bright and cultural (Kristyn W.,
2011).
A & E (Accident and Emergency). In the A & E they did all their charting on computers at the
bedside, and it seemed to be much more efficient (Stephanie B., 2011. They have a 24/7 access
to mental health services and have 3 mental health nurses on each shift. When a patient
presents with a cardiac emergency, a nurse specialized in cardiac care is sent down to
emergency to assist with care (Chelsea L., 2011).
Public and Private healthcare system. We also discussed the healthcare system. Australia
offers a public and private healthcare system – this allows patients to choose which type of
healthcare they would prefer. The public healthcare system has minimal costs but does
implement waiting lists; this is a Medicare Model and is similar to the Canadian healthcare
system. Private healthcare allows for more choice in practitioners and enforces fees for care.
Private hospitals provide about 1/3 of all hospital beds in Australia and about ½ of Australians
have private healthcare insurance (Australian Government, 2008). I think that there may be a
positive side to this model and that is one can choose what type of healthcare works better and
fits better with one’s lifestyle (Mallory L., 2011). However, if the person does not have private
health care insurance they will be charged more on their taxes each year (Chelsea L., 2011).
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Nursing Uniforms in Australia
Nursing Uniforms in Canada
Nursing Uniforms. The first thing I noticed was the uniforms. They were button up blue blouses that the
Registered Nurses wore, so everyone looked the same. I also noticed that they seemed to be advanced
with their technology compared to us (Stephanie B., 2011).
Job shortage. Currently there is zero vacancy spots, but they are predicting a shortage in about 5-10
years (Stephanie B., 2011).
Infection Control. Although there are carpets in the hallways, for hand washing they had many
posters saying, “I care, I save lives, I clean my hands”. These signs made it clear that infection
control is also a priority in Australia (Ashlie B., 2011). I did find Isagel around the hospital a bit and
by the bedside, however not nearly as frequently as I would see at home. In Saskatoon's hospital there
are a lot of signs encouraging family, visitors and staff to Isagel before coming on a ward and going into
anyone’s rooms but I did not see any of these signs around for visitors (Kristyn W., 2011).
Volunteers. I noticed that Flinders Medical Centre relies on a lot of volunteers as well and have many
services such as the gift shop run by volunteers. It looks to me like Flinders electronics and technology
are advanced beyond what I have seen in Canada. For example, the electronic bedside charts as well as
a smart board trial that was being tried in the Hepatic Transplant ward. However we were told that the
larger cities of the same size as Adelaide in Canada would be a similar comparison. There is a variety of
shifts from 8, 10 and 12 hours which is similar to home, however I notice there to be much more 8 and
10 hour shifts in Australia vs. the 12 hours that have seemed to be the norm where I have had clinical
placements at home. Overall the Flinders Medical Center was a great tour and I learned a lot from it
about Australia and health care (Kristyn W., 2011).
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Health Promotion motto ‘Slip, Slap, Slop’
Skin cancer Prevention
Health promotion “Slip, Slop, Slap” motto. “slip, slop, slap”, refers to slip on a shirt, slop on
sunscreen, and slap on a hat. Skin cancer is a major issue in Australia so many catchy slogans
are produced (Ashlie B., 2011; Stephanie B., 2011).
English Language. Although English is the official language, I still find there to be a language
barrier at times. Australia is a very multicultural country and I noticed many different cultures
and languages as we travel. Some Australians have a very strong accent that can make having a
conversation difficult. Also, they use many terms that are different from us - this can be very
fun to decipher what they are saying! For example, a Pharmacy is a CHEMIST, a cooler for food
or drinks is an ESKIE, mosquitoes are MOZZIES, to have supper or dinner means to have TEA,
etc! They also greet you with "How ya goin?" and say "No worries" a lot! (Kristyn W., 2011)
Health Care System. South Australia has recently gone through an amalgamation in July 2010
which turned the health care system into the hands of the federal government instead of the
state (Chelsea L., 2011). Australia recently implemented the Australia Health Regulating
Authority Act on January 1st, 2011 (Stephanie B., 2011).
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Adelaide Hills
Adelaide Hills “The Hills”. Thursday, January 6 was an opportunity to experience some of
Adelaide’s surrounding countryside and wineries. We were fortunate enough to have a
Flinders’ nursing student Cassie as our driver, and Annette as our guide while we drove through
the Adelaide Hills. Our destinations included Mount Lofty (the peak of the Cleland Park),
Hahndorf (a small German settlement), and several other wineries (Rachelle C., 2011). The wine
culture here is very strong. Annette said that it is common for people to have a glass of wine
with their meals, as it might be in parts of Europe. Everyone seems to have some idea about a
good wine (Rachelle C., 2011).
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
Official Language. English
Food /Restaurants. Food is more expensive. Even
in nice restaurants you order at the till and they
bring out the food to us (Kristyn W., 2011) No
Official Language. English and French (bilingual)
Food /Restaurants. Food is 10% less expensive.
Waitresses and waiters in restaurants take your
order. Tipping is expected 10%.
Driving. Drive on the left side of the road. Steering
wheel is on the right side of the car.
Right of way. Pedestrians do not have right of
way.
Intersections. Roundabouts are common at
intersections.
Driving. Drive on the right side of the road.
Steering wheel is on the left side of the car.
Right of way. Pedestrians have right of way.
tipping!
Intersections. Four way stops or lights are
common at intersections.
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Differences
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
Expressions
Hello
How are you?
No Problem
Terminology
A & E (Accident & Emergency) ER (Emergency Room)
Amber
Beer
Barbie
Barbaque
Bottle store
Liquor board store
Chips
Fries
Chemist
Pharmacy
Cozzie
Swimsuit
Chrissie
Christmas
Din Dins or Tea
Dinner
EN (enrolment nurse)
LPN
Eskie
Cooler
Fort-night
2 week stay
“Humpy” aboriginal shelter
camping ground
Kiwi
New Zealander
Mozzie Bite
Mosquito bite
Panadol
Tylenol
Pictures
Movies
Rollaway
Cot
Roo
Kangaroo
Roster
Schedule
Rubbish
Garbage
Special Care Aid (SCA)
Personal Care Aid (PCA)
Station
Farm
Toilets/dunee
Washroom
Tomato paste
Ketchup
Uniforms
Scrubs
G’day mate
How you going?
No Worries
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Nursing Practice Differences
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
Nursing. Average age of nurses in Australia is 45
years (Ashlie B., 2011). Number of registered
nurses and enrolled nurses employed in Australia
in 2008 was estimated at approx 250, 000. Male
nurses in Australia represent 9.8 of the profession.
Shifts. 12 hrs shifts are uncommon
Mindset that “kids are just little adults”, therefore
paediatrics not part a big part of their general
nursing curriculum (Kristyn W., 2011).
Smoking Policy. Adelaide health care facilities
became smoke free including their grounds May
31, 2010 [Ashlie Boyko, 2011).
Five “R”s of Medication Administration. The 5
“R”s came from the legal system (Ashlie B., 2011).
(1) RIGHT drug; (2) RIGHT client (Two Identifiers)
(3) RIGHT dose (4) RIGHT time (5) RIGHT route
Nursing. Average age of nurses in Canada is 45 yrs
in 2009 (CNA, 2009). 274, 274 Registered nurses in
Canada; 432 (0.2 % doctorate prepared; male
nurses represent 5.7% of RNs employed in nursing
in 2007 (CNA, 2007).
Shifts. 12 hrs shifts are common
Outlook that “kids are unique and complex”,
therefore pediatrics are a big part of the general
nursing curriculum.
Smoking Policy. Saskatoon Health Region
mandated their Smoke Free Policy of hospitals and
grounds in 2007.
Seven “R”s of Medication Administration. In
Canada we have the 7”R”s, which is recently new
(Ashlie B., 2011). (1) RIGHT drug; (2) RIGHT client
(Two Identifiers) (3) RIGHT dose (4) RIGHT time (5)
RIGHT route (6) RIGHT reason (7) RIGHT
documentation.
A & E. 1 to 5 scale, Australia has a likely to
discharge vs. likely to admit policy.
ER. Triaging scale of 1-5 points
Thank You to Our Hosts at Flinders
We thanked Annette for setting up our clinical placements and for being so welcoming. It was
sad to leave her as she was always so nice to our group and always very understanding of any
concerns we had. It was an awesome orientation week and I felt like I learned a lot about South
Australia. I learned a lot about the culture of the people and some of their interests. I liked
talking to Australians and finding out all about South Australia. I think the experience that we
have had so far has been wonderful and I'm so thankful I got the chance to come to Australia
on an adventure like this (Teneille L., 2011).
Orientation was fascinating and opened my eyes to some cultural and healthcare differences
(Mallory L., 2011). We had a great presentation by Prof Linda Starr. She is an extremely bright
nurse and lawyer, and I learned a ton from her in a few short hours that first day alone. I won't
even be able to share half of it in this journal. We got an introduction to Australia and South
Australia and the nursing here; then, we learned a lot of the nursing politics in South Australia
and of the legal and political barriers that stand in the way of providing the best care to
patients, and in protecting the nurses that provide that care (Kristyn W., 2011).
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References
Australian Government. (2008). About Australia. Retrieved from
http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/healthcare.html
Canadian Cancer Society. (2010). Canadian Tobacco Statistics. Retrieved from
http://www.cancer.ca/Saskatchewan/Prevention/Quit%20smoking/Canadian
20tobacco%20stats.aspx?sc_lang=e&r=1
Canadian Nurses Association. (2007). 2007 Workforce profile of registered nurses in Canada.
Retrieved from http://www.cnanurses.ca/CNA/documents/pdf/publications/2007_RN_Snapshot_e.pdf
Cancer Council SA. (2008). Key smoking statistics for SA, 2008. Adelaide, Australia: Tobacco Control
Research and Evaluation. Retrieved from
URL:http://www.quitsa.org.au/cms_resources/FastFacts_Tobacco_july09.pdf
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