Caring for people in her community is the reason Abagail Weis became a registered nurse (RN).
“My passion is general practice nursing. It doesn’t get the same recognition that other types of nursing jobs do, for example, hospital nursing,” she said.
“I am passionate about caring for the people in my community and doing everything I can to keep them healthy and safe, so they don’t have to go to hospital.
“In the future, I would like to be a nurse practitioner specialising in general practice.”
Currently an RN at Health and Wellbeing Wulguru in Townsville, Abagail has been working as a registered nurse for the last two years.
Abagail went straight into general practice nursing once she graduated from James Cook University.
And she fell in love with it from her first placement.
Abagail was recently accepted into the Transition to Practice program (TPP), funded by Northern Queensland Primary Heath Network (NQPHN), offered by the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA).
The Transition to Practice program provides an evidence-based framework of education over an 8-month period to nurses who have transitioned to primary health care and feel they would benefit from additional support.
“I applied for the Transition to Practice program back in 2021 when I started at my first general practice, but wasn’t successful, so when I was asked if I wanted to sign up for the program again, it was a definite yes for me,” Abagail said.
“General practice nurses look after so many people with many different issues, so the information we need to know to be a good general practice nurse is immense.
“The Transition to Practice program has helped me gain access to information that isn’t taught at university and it’s benefitting me as not only a registered nurse, but in my administration duties as well.”
Abagail said there were many highlights of the program, including being able to access the modules at her own pace.
“Starting in a new role, being a nurse, and studying has me very busy at the moment, so I appreciate that the program is self-paced and that the modules are very easy to navigate,” she said.
“It’s also great to be able to talk directly with my mentor.
“I like having someone who has first-hand knowledge and expertise to clarify information for me, and who also understands my workload.”
Abagail said her devotion to working hard came from the desire to make her family proud.
“I hope that I not only make NQPHN and APNA proud, but also my practice, my community and especially my family. They have supported me every step of the way even when I wanted to give up at university,” she said.
“I’m really glad I didn’t. I’m enjoying my new chosen nursing path – the community needs more general practice nurses.
“I highly recommend the Transition to Practice program to other RNs and enrolled nurses (ENs), who want to work in general practice, to become a good general practice nurse.”
