Carol Robertson has been appointed as our Perioperative Educator. She has had a varied nursing career, working in both public and private hospitals mainly in leadership roles as a Charge Nurse or Theatre Manager. Her most recent position was as Theatre Manager for a large private hospital in Auckland.

Please describe what you do in your role?

I am working closely with Nursing Manager, Anouk Doevendans-Lumb, to plan the orientation and education for the many new staff who will be starting at Kaweka next year. I’m busy planning education on topics such as health and safety, fire safety and manual handling as well as clinical topics like infection control, hand hygiene and emergency responses. I am working out how education will be delivered and how we can help our staff keep up to date with current practices going forward.

What are you most excited about with being involved in establishing a new elective surgery facility?

Nick and Anouk’s passion for this project is what attracted me to this role. I met them at a nursing conference earlier in the year and they talked about The Kaweka Way – questioning every process, doing things differently and providing world class healthcare. I found that exciting and would have taken any role to be part of this new hospital.

I am also excited by the challenge of the role; I have never been an educator before but part of The Kaweka Way is pushing the boundaries and that is what I am doing.

What has been a highlight so far…

So many, such as going to the building site and seeing what a fabulous facility it is going to be, the inclusive working environment and the enthusiasm that all members of the team have for this project.