Student story: A refreshing change of pace in Alice Springs

26 Aug 2024

Melbourne-based nursing student Grace recently undertook a clinical placement in Alice Springs, NT – an experience she describes as invaluable. Here, she talks about her cultural orientation, adventures in the red and ridged landscape, and connecting with other students from across the country.

This CRANAplus Under­grad­u­ate Remote Place­ment Schol­ar­ship was spon­sored by HESTA.

Out­side Alice Springs Hospital

Fly­ing from Mel­bourne to Alice Springs was the first of many won­der­ful sights and expe­ri­ences of this incred­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­plete a three-week nurs­ing place­ment at Alice Springs Hos­pi­tal. The strik­ing panora­ma of the exten­sive red ter­rain, with a sin­gu­lar road, served as a tan­gi­ble tes­ta­ment to the remote­ness of this community. 

Sun­set at Anzac Hill on the first night.

The prospect of under­tak­ing a remote place­ment in Alice Springs was a com­pelling oppor­tu­ni­ty that I saw as indis­pens­able. I was moti­vat­ed by the belief that my pas­sion can make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence to vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions. Hav­ing a gen­uine inter­est in engag­ing in pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice with Indige­nous pop­u­la­tions in a remote loca­tion fuelled my eager­ness to gain an under­stand­ing of the lifestyle and chal­lenges associated.

Dri­ving through the out­er part of Alice Springs to my accom­mo­da­tion was a refresh­ing change of pace from the bustling city of Melbourne.

On my first day, all stu­dents begin­ning their place­ment attend­ed an Abo­rig­i­nal Cul­ture and Con­text short course at Flinders Uni­ver­si­ty. I got to engage with and learn from stu­dents from dif­fer­ent health­care pro­fes­sions and uni­ver­si­ties across Aus­tralia. This work­shop was incred­i­bly invalu­able and eye-open­ing learn­ing of Abo­rig­i­nal his­to­ry, cur­rent chal­lenges, and the destruc­tive nature of the spread­ing of mis­in­for­ma­tion par­tic­u­lar­ly by media. It was aston­ish­ing to learn that the coloni­sa­tion of Cen­tral Aus­tralia occurred 100 years after the south and east coast of Aus­tralia. This encour­aged me to con­sid­er the impacts of this in terms of progress, knowl­edge, and expec­ta­tions of the Alice Springs com­mu­ni­ty.

The fol­low­ing day was my first day in the Orthopaedic Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Ward. A bright and cheery ward was emersed in Abo­rig­i­nal art cre­at­ed by pre­vi­ous patients and fam­i­lies. It was here I got to devel­op my abil­i­ty to cul­tur­al­ly con­nect with patients and fam­i­lies and under­stand the fun­da­men­tals of cul­tur­al safe­ty – a piv­otal and trans­fer­able skill in nurs­ing. It was reward­ing to recog­nise Abo­rig­i­nal patients slow­ly gain­ing trust and open up more through­out my place­ment. They began to share not only more about their health but also about their cul­ture and their con­nec­tion to their land. It was touch­ing to hear just how mean­ing­ful the land and their tra­di­tion­al prac­tices were to them, imped­ing some patient’s abil­i­ty to remain in hospital.

Hike in the West Mac­Don­nell Ranges with Ash­lee (left) and Sylvie (mid­dle).

The nurs­es, health pro­fes­sion­als and edu­ca­tion team here allowed me to broad­en my knowl­edge and devel­op skills that would not have been pos­si­ble in a met­ro­pol­i­tan hos­pi­tal. They high­light­ed to me what it means to be a phe­nom­e­nal health­care pro­fes­sion­al. I aspire to one day be as pro­fi­cient, knowl­edge­able, and influ­en­tial as they proved to be.

Each day before or after place­ment and on my ros­tered days off pro­vid­ed a new adven­ture. From rid­ing around the town to dis­cov­er­ing art gal­leries to attend­ing triv­ia nights with new friends, I began to dis­cov­er the true beau­ty of Alice Springs.

On one of my days off, my friend and I ven­tured into the West Mac­Don­nell Ranges (Tjorit­ja) – breath­tak­ing. Our tour guide shared Arrernte Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ples’ Dream­time sto­ries of how the ridges of the West Mac­Don­nell Ranges were cre­at­ed by giant caterpillars.

From the beau­ti­ful red and ridged land­scape of Ser­pen­tine Gorge to the refresh­ing water of Ellery Creek Big Hole, it was an insight­ful and cap­ti­vat­ing day.

I am immense­ly grate­ful for this incred­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence a remote nurs­ing place­ment and all that Alice Springs has to offer. The knowl­edge, skills, friend­ships, and mem­o­ries I cre­at­ed are invaluable.

I thank CRANAplus for this schol­ar­ship and for sup­port­ing me to under­take this placement.

Apply for an Under­grad­u­ate Remote Place­ment Schol­ar­ship for finan­cial sup­port dur­ing your clin­i­cal place­ment, or read about expe­ri­ences of oth­er stu­dents Jethro and Cameron.