Debra Thoms

Good morning. 

I would like first to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose ancestral lands the University now stands, and pay my respects to the Elders both past and present.  I would also like to extend this respect, acknowledgement and welcome to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may be attending the ceremony today.

I would also like to acknowledge:

• Chancellor Dr Ron Sandland
• Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Booth
• Director Mr Martin Hanlon
• Dean Professor John Daly
• Deputy Vice Chancellor Mr Patrick Woods
• Chair of Academic Board Associate Professor Joanne Gray
• other staff, distinguished guests, graduates and their family and friends.

I am delighted to see so many of you graduating; it is a wonderful achievement of which you should be very proud.  This ceremony marks both the end of one journey and the beginning of another.  I also pay recognition to your families and friends who have supported you throughout this journey for, like many things in life, achievements such as these are only made with the support of those around us. 

It is a pleasure to be here today providing the occasional address.  Occasions such as these cause one to pause and reflect on life and career – I have been engaged in health care for almost 40 years now and my career has taken me to places that I did not imagine when I sat at my own graduation listening to a graduation address.  This morning I thought I would share with you some of my journey.

When nearing the completion of my high school education at a public Girls High School in Sydney I was undecided as to whether or not I wanted to attend university or undertake nursing. Fortunately there was an ‘experimental’ program available at the Prince Henry/Prince of Wales hospitals in Sydney in conjunction with the University of New South Wales which provided an opportunity to do both – this was the 70s before nursing was transferred to the universities and we were part of a small program that saw us complete a university degree and nursing education at the same time.

We were spoken of by the longer standing staff as “those university nurses” and were often asked in a somewhat exasperated tone why we had to ask so many questions. But we were not willing to accept the status quo and sought to understand what was happening and why it was happening rather than just accepting that this was how it was.  For without questioning we will not advance either ourselves or our knowledge in the broader world.  And we will certainly not inspire change for the better.  As graduates I would hope that you will never stop questioning and seeking to expand both your knowledge and skills and that you will constantly challenge yourself to not just accept the ‘status quo’.

Ongoing education is absolutely vital for all professions and as we know health care is rapidly changing. We cannot be content to rest on our laurels and think that on completing our program of study we have little new to learn or that we will learn all we need to know on the job.

Following the completion of my degree and nursing, I worked briefly in Sydney and then went to the Northern Territory to take up a position as a remote area nurse in central Australia.  In the early 80s, working in a remote community meant only radio communication, weekly plane deliveries of mail and perishables and dependence on your four wheel drive vehicle. Indeed the majority of our orientation was spent on two things – essential knowledge around Aboriginal culture and essential mechanics for four wheel drives!

I was fortunate to spend over six years in the Northern Territory in a variety of roles and it was one of the most rewarding periods of my working life.  I was challenged and stretched every day, and I was required to listen, learn and understand communities within a culture quite different to my own.  I was also confronted by health care needs that I had no experience of and which reinforced the critical value of the team involved in health care. In the communities within which I worked – Aboriginal Health Workers, nurses and medical staff all worked together to help improve the health of a community and at the same time engaged with the community on their perspective on health. 

I returned to NSW in the late 1980s and over the ensuing years worked in a variety of nursing roles in both rural and metropolitan NSW until moving into more general management roles, first at the Royal Hospital for Women where I had the privilege of oversighting the relocation of the hospital from Paddington to Randwick and then in a rural area health service – once again being challenged and stretched as well as extending my knowledge and understanding of health care and health management.  I then returned to more specific nursing roles and had the good fortune to work in both South Australia and NSW as CNMO. Now following a period with the Australian College of Nursing I am provided with further opportunities and challenges as CNMO with the Australian Department of Health.

I believe that I have been fortunate to have had a challenging, varied and successful career that has taken me to some interesting places and roles and which sees me now in a role that provides me with further opportunities to contribute in a broad strategic capacity to the health system of our country.

So what have been critical factors in my relative success?  First I would say that it was the support of my parents to undertake my university education but also to enter into the nursing and midwifery professions. The other contribution my parents made is that they instilled in me a belief that I was capable of achieving whatever I wanted.  Some of you here today no doubt have received critical support from not only parents but other family members, partners and close friends.

Second the foundational skills and knowledge that I gained in my undergraduate, nursing and then midwifery education programs.  My career has taken me to places and situations that have at times caused me to wonder if I had the requisite skills and knowledge to meet the demands of the roles I found myself in.  But rest assured that the principles and underlying concepts that you have learnt will stand you in good stead; the foundation skills and knowledge you have gained in your programs will remain with you throughout your career.

Thirdly I would say that in every role I have undertaken I have also built on and enhanced my skills and knowledge and coupled this with further formal education at various points in my career. Each and every role has given me something to take forward to the next role. I have also taken on roles that at times I knew would challenge me - I would encourage you all to extend yourselves in whatever roles you undertake in coming years as well as identify further educational opportunities to support you.

Many of us in health care entered these professions in order to contribute and make a difference in our community. Health care has been an extremely rewarding and challenging area of work for me. That is not to say that there will not be times when you question what you doing or wonder if you are really making any difference at all. You may at times wonder about your capacity to meet the various demands being placed on you. I would like to suggest that you remember that we do not progress without some challenge and risk, that we need to constantly learn and grow –– and in order for your career to progress there will continue to be further growth and learning for all of you.

Health is essentially an humanistic endeavour and in today’s technical and fast paced world it is often easy to lose sight of the importance of human connectedness to health care.  In closing I would like to share with you this short story from a person who presented at an Emergency Department that I recently read in Health Matters.

The staff person who attended me was courteous and competent, attentive to my clinical symptoms, efficient in their monitoring of my condition. Their observations of my vital signs indicated no cause for alarm. I wasn’t seriously ill. I was reassured I would recover. I could safely go home and all would be well.

But I didn’t feel reassured by their assurances. I felt overwhelmed by my unwellness, unable to cope with the vulnerability I felt in the face of the unfamiliarity of my body’s weakness. It was not just my body but my spirit, too, was dislocated – undone by this experience of pain and fatigue and sleeplessness, unable to trust that recovery was inevitable and certain if perhaps a little time away.

Another nurse entered the room. She reviewed the observations recorded earlier. But she gently touched my arm. She listed with attentiveness and held my eyes with a look of concern as I spoke. She responded with a gentile affirmation of the distress I expressed. She didn’t offer platitudes, of the kind intended to comfort, but also to dismiss. Her presence communicated a compassion that had somehow been missing in the earlier exchanges. It was this connection of one calm, caring and patient person to another in distress that lifted my spirits. That enabled me to grasp a sense of hope and to rediscover my confidence.

The difference between this and the earlier interactions might seem small, insignificant and extraneous to the business of providing medical care but on that lonely night healing is what I experienced in the compassion of that one nurse. (Health Matters Issue 77, Autumn 2016)

No matter in what field of health you are graduating today may you always remember that the human element of the care of you provide makes as much if not more impact at times than the  technical knowledge and skills you possess.

Congratulations on your achievements and I wish you a challenging and rewarding career.

Thank you.