By Peter Hanlon
Since she started nursing in 2001, Valentina Trajkovski has worked at a range of hospitals including the Royal Melbourne and Royal Children’s and in community health with the Royal District Nursing Service.
She’s gained a wealth of varied experience – not least in how susceptible to burnout her profession has become.
In her final year of nursing at university she developed a passion for research, which more than two decades later Trajkovski is channelling into postgraduate studies that will make her an even better nurse – and hopefully help her profession retain its people.
Valentina Trajkovski fits her studies into three days each week and completes a full week of work in the other four.
“I think there needs to be a lot more work around how we can support nurses better, and that’s one of the reasons I’m doing this PhD,” Trajkovski says of her postgraduate studies at Victoria University (VU), in which she investigates the use of health coaching and elements of integrative medicine to improve wellbeing and performance in graduate clinicians.
“I’ve had access to lots of different clinicians, whether medical professionals, nurses, allied healthcare professionals. There was a common theme around wellbeing and workload – I realised as healthcare professionals we aren’t doing well at looking after ourselves.
“And how can we care for our patients if we’re not caring for ourselves?”
VU’s Dr Gina Kruger, associate professor of midwifery and acting head of programs – nursing and midwifery, notes that many of the increasing number of nurses who are entering masters programs are not simply furthering their careers, but want to help build sustainability in a profession in which attrition is an ongoing problem.
Victoria University students hone their skills in the simulation lab. Credit: Penny Stephens
The federal government’s Nursing Supply and Demand Study forecasts an undersupply of more than 70,000 full-time-equivalent nurses by 2035, with supply not keeping place with demand. In acute care the shortfall is projected to be more than 26,000, in primary health care more than 21,000 and in the aged care sector more than 17,000.
“We’re always looking for ways to increase resilience and retain nurses in our health systems because there’s a deficit of nurses and midwives,” Kruger says, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how many nurses have left the profession.
VU offers postgraduate nursing studies in a range of courses. Mental health is a growing space, with master studies also including intensive care, critical care, perioperative and emergency department nursing in theatres.
The University of Sydney offers postgraduate degrees in advanced nursing practice, cancer and haematology nursing, emergency nursing, intensive care nursing and a master of nursing.
Susan Wakil school of nursing and midwifery head Professor Brendan McCormack says degrees are designed to advance students’ knowledge, critical thinking and decision-making, fostering leaderships and paving the way for specialist and advanced practice roles.
“Like in many other industries, nurses commit to lifelong learning,” McCormack says.
“Postgraduate education in this area is not just essential to the development of nurses’ careers and the profession, but helps advance our health sector which has positive, wide-ranging impacts on health outcomes and patient wellbeing.
“There is substantial international evidence demonstrating the impact of masters-educated nurses on patient outcomes, including reducing hospital length of stay, improving treatment outcomes, and reducing the cost of healthcare delivery.”
Global evidence also suggests nurses who work in professionally rewarding environments and are given opportunities through access to education and professional development will feel more valued and experience greater job satisfaction, leading to higher retention rates.
Degrees can be undertaken full-time or part-time, with McCormack noting the importance of giving students the option to continue working in the sector while undertaking their degree, which ensures their practice is constantly improving.
Trajkovski is on a scholarship at VU, fitting her studies into three days each week and squeezing a full working week into the other four days. “But I make sure I make time for myself and my family, that’s still my priority,” the mother of two teenagers says.
She views her postgraduate studies as a means of not only providing better support for nurses, but looking at how they can better interact with other healthcare professionals in a complex system. As with any education Trajkovski has undertaken, she draws as much from the growth and development experienced along the journey as the piece of paper at the finish line.
“The knowledge I’m obtaining has to mean something – I want to share it. For me it has to mean more than just getting a qualification – if there’s no clear ‘why’ it’s hard to keep going.
″Understand why you’re doing it in the first place and that will get you through the challenging times.
“I’d always encourage people to do further study. Regardless of where you’re at in your journey – just started or well-established in your career – I think it’s always a good time to further yourself with study.”