School of Nursing and Midwifery, Victoria University
AM, RN, BA(Hons), MD (honoris causa), PhD (Monash)

Emeritus Professor Judith M Parker addressed graduates from the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health at the Greenhalgh Theatre, Kuring-Gai, Wednesday 22 April 2009, 2.30pm.

About the speaker

Professor Judith Parker is from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Victoria University. Judith has played a major role in the development of nursing programs, practice development and research in the university sector in Australia.

Judith was the foundation Professor and Head of the School of Nursing at the University of Melbourne from 1996 to March 2004 and, prior to that, held a similar position at La Trobe University. From March 2004 she spent 18 months as a Visiting Professor at the University of Hong Kong and from January 2006 to December 2008 undertook the role of Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Victoria University.

Judith has a long-standing interest in education and research to support the quality of health services. She is internationally renowned for her research into the nursing handover. She has also participated as a Principal Investigator in research funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Professor Parker established, was the foundation editor and later editor-in-chief of the highly regarded international refereed scholarly journal 'Nursing Inquiry'.

In 2001 Professor Parker was included on the Victorian Honour Roll for Women and in 2002 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to nursing, particularly in the fields of nursing education and the development of evidence-based nursing practice; and as editor of the international journal 'Nursing Inquiry'.

In 2006 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Medicine by the University of Melbourne in recognition of her contribution to nursing scholarship.

Speech

Pro-Chancellor, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dean, distinguished guests, graduates, families and friends.

Dear graduates,

It is such a privilege to see your bright faces here today as you are acknowledged for the hard work you have undertaken in gaining your degree. I also see the bright faces of your families and friends who have stood by you and supported you during the often grueling times you have endured as you have grappled with the demands of your course. I offer my congratulations to you all. The effort has been worthwhile and now you stand ready to embark on an exciting professional nursing or midwifery career. On an occasion such as this, I look back on my own very long career in nursing. At my nursing graduation I wore a veil and was called Sister (in tones indicating respect) instead of Nurse (the underling normally kicked by the cat). Just one of the many changes that have occurred over the last half century!

I can now look back on 50 years of close professional involvement with key moments in people's lives. These have been either directly in practice or indirectly through education, management and research. Over my career, I have seen major technological advances, medical and surgical breakthroughs and pharmacological innovations. Together with changes in educational, management and organisational structures and processes, and the emergence of new categories of health care workers, these have changed the face of nursing and midwifery practice significantly. However, I believe there is a continuing thread in both nursing and midwifery practice. This is the knowledge and skill based support which nurses and midwives provide that is aimed at retaining the sense of wholeness and personal integrity of those who are rendered vulnerable in regard to their health.

As nurses and midwives we are indeed privileged to bring our knowledge and skills to bear as we witness profound moments in the lives of people; birth, suffering, endurance and death. Our professions enable us to have close understanding of and knowledge about the human condition and we are licensed to become involved in intimate aspects of people's lives within the scope of our profession practice. This understanding and knowledge, and the events in which we participate are sometimes extremely difficult to cope with. One of my motivations for undertaking a PhD in the field of death and dying, I am sure, was to do with my need to somehow process the profundity of what I had experienced as a practicing nurse.

This closeness to the human condition requires the exercise of particular talents. On one hand nurses and midwives have to bring to bear superb clinical judgment skills. These are based on best available evidence and the experience that they build up over time. One the other hand they need to have a compassionate understanding of vulnerability and how it is being manifest in the particular situation and circumstances their patients or clients find them-selves in. They need to be detached enough from the immediacy of the situation to be able to think clearly and act decisively. They need to be involved enough in the situation to understand and respond empathically to the social and emotional needs of their patient/client and family. Getting this balance right is not easy. Already in your clinical experience you have probably met some nurses and midwives who seem remote, technical, hardened and distant and others who seem too involved, perhaps emotionally invasive and overly close to patients and clients.

In the education program you have recently completed, you have had the support of teachers who have guided you in your professional development. As you go out into practice you will see role models that you wish to emulate. You will bring together the knowledge you have gained from your study and the clinical skills you have gained from the practice you have undertaken. You will also have absorbed along the way practical wisdom and tacit understanding about nursing or midwifery and the cultural practices of these professions. As you mature in your professional life you will bring all of these, together with your ongoing learning and professional and life experiences, into your own unique identity as a nurse or midwife.

You will need help in shaping this identity if you are to develop as a rounded, skilful and compassionate professional and avoid the pitfalls of detached or over-involved professionalism. Friends, family and life experiences can help, there is no doubt of that. But increasingly nurses and midwives are recognising the need for ongoing support and mentorship of a professional nature as they develop their careers and incorporate their experiences into their developing professional identity. This can be done through working with a professional coach, a mentor or through participating in clinical supervision. Each of these approaches has the aim of assisting you to look after yourself professionally in order to provide the highest possible standards of care. Having professional support through one of the means I have identified provides you with a framework to help you in processing and making sense of troubling professional experiences, in decision-making and relationship management in your workplace, in making choices about your on-going learning needs and in honing your talents and further developing the skill-set you need to perform well within the dynamic environments in which you work. I truly wish such opportunities had been available for me when I was a new graduate.

You have an exciting and open future ahead of you, full of promise, potential and opportunity. Nursing and midwifery have so much to offer you as you develop your career and you have much to offer nursing and midwifery as you exercise your knowledge and skills wisely and compassionately. Nursing and midwifery will both change as further innovations occur and structures change. You have been provided with the skills to enable you to continue learning, growing and developing throughout your lives. Your degree has provided you with the springboard from which you can leap confidently into the future. I hope you will think about some of the suggestions I have offered that could support your further professional growth and development.

I hope that in 50 years time you will look back over a career well spent in supporting the health and well being of those who are vulnerable and in need! I wish you well.