It Takes Heart
It Takes Heart is an unmissable podcast where healthcare workers share their honest and unique experiences from Australia’s frontline.
Discover real-life stories of passion and purpose, insight and inspiration from people on the inside and tales that are equal parts heart-warming, heart-wrenching and hilarious. It Takes Heart is co-hosted by cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment CEO Samantha Miklos and Head of Talent and Employer Branding Kate Coomber.
It Takes Heart
34. Can You Really Nurse Across NZ Ski Slopes and Aussie EDs? Nurse Nicole Proves It
What’s it like to go from treating ski injuries on the slopes of Queenstown to working ED shifts under the red-hot skies of rural Australia? For Nicole Watts - emergency nurse, adventure-seeker and proud member of the cmr community - it’s a career that blends adrenaline, autonomy and purpose.
Nicole shares what it takes to thrive as both a ski field nurse in New Zealand and a travel nurse in Australia. We step into her world on the slopes, where ski patrol briefings start the day and anything from fractures to major trauma can come through the door. From fast-paced clinic days with limited backup to regional EDs across the country, she reflects on the clinical skills, confidence and adaptability these environments demand and how each setting has shaped her as a nurse and a person.
You’ll also hear Nicole’s practical advice for NZ nurses considering the move across the ditch. She unpacks the logistics of nursing in Australia and how to find your feet quickly in agency-heavy emergency departments. Whether you’re a NZ nurse curious about what’s possible or a travel nurse dreaming of seasonal work, this episode is packed with insight and inspiration.
More about Nicole's Organisation of Choice, Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust
The Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust is committed to supporting the world class rescue helicopter service that is delivered across the large and geographically challenging southern area of New Zealand. The Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter service is partially funded by Government, but we rely on donations from our community to support this critical service that brings vital help to seriously unwell or injured patients.
It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr CEO Sam Miklos, alongside Head of Talent and Employer Branding, Kate Coomber.
We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso
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For our final episode of season two, we sat down with our own nurse, Nicole, who's proof that adventure really can be a career path from managing medical emergencies on a ski bus to now carving out a career as a travelling Kiwi nurse in Australia. Nicole's proof that if you can be flexible and adaptable, you truly can build the career of your dreams.
Nicole Watts:The bus driver is telling me that there's someone on the bus having a fit. So the door opens, walk onto the bus, I'm by myself. Um and at the end of the bus, there's a lot of commotion, and then um managed to make it through, and yeah, he's unconscious, not breathing. Um and so this man essentially had a VF arrest on the back of the ski bus. And we managed to um bring him back with two shocks. But all done in the back of the seat.
Kate Coomber:It's our last episode of the season, so be sure to be following us on Instagram so you can get to know our guests like Nicole a little bit better over the Christmas holidays. And don't forget, wherever you get your podcast, to subscribe and leave a review.
Sam Miklos:Today we're joined by Nicole Watts, a New Zealand nurse who spent years leading medical teams on the ski fields of Queenstown, working in high-pressured, isolated environments where every decision counts. Nicole's story that was not just about snow and adrenaline. She's also part of our CMR community and regularly brings her skills and experience across the dirt.
Nicole Watts:I thought we were more common.
Sam Miklos:But no, the accent is, and I apologize and do tend to just crop up. But here we go. Can we start though? Ski fields in Queenstown. How long have you been there? Like what a job. And I have I'm not a very good ski.
Kate Coomber:Have you been to Queenstown?
Sam Miklos:Yes, and I I I did ski for one day. I fell off the chair lift, it had to get stopped. And then when I came down around the mountain, I was pizza pizza pizza, and I couldn't, I was on my own because they'd left me because I was holding the group up and I was pizza, pizza, pizza, and then I saw this couple making it up on a barrier, and I could see them, and you know, you go to where you're looking, and I was yelling, and then I took them, and we all went through the barrier, and I had all my skis everywhere, and I just stomped off. I had one still on and one off, and I couldn't get the other one off, so I stomped off with my skis.
Nicole Watts:So my question is everyone of service, breaking the make out session on the hills.
Sam Miklos:This is it, they're probably married now, but it was a lot. Um do you have to be a good skier to work up there? No, you don't. Really?
Nicole Watts:No. Um Are you? Well, I've been doing it for a little while. Yeah. So originally snowboarded since the age of 18 and loved it.
Sam Miklos:So you grew up in New Zealand. Was it in Queenstown or?
Nicole Watts:I grew up in Christchurch. Um, so six hours north, so Mount Hart actually, I would call my home mountain. Um so yeah, when I was 18, my parents were not into it at all, so it wasn't a thing we did as children. And then friends um enjoyed it. So I think at that age of when you can start paying for things and you know, funding your own life, you get to learn to snowboard.
Sam Miklos:Yeah. Um so you're a snowboarder, not a skier.
Nicole Watts:I do both now. Um, I guess, you know, you turn 30 and you take on your challenges, and I was like, I want to learn to ski. Um so the last two seasons now I've been predominantly skiing um and loving it. But I would still say I'm a snowboarder.
Kate Coomber:Yeah. Do you get much time to do that when you're working in ski seasons and things?
Nicole Watts:Yes and no. Um it depends on the time of the season. You kind of, you know, the season starts early June, you've got two weeks to settle in, get everyone comfortable, and then it is baptism by fire with school holidays. Yeah. Um, you know, you've got New Zealand, you've got Australian school holidays, everyone's coming, and it's about a solid month that um is really busy.
Sam Miklos:Yeah.
Nicole Watts:So we get out when we can. Um most often it's sort of first thing in the morning. Yeah. I feel like anything from eleven till midday, people start to get tired and instead of going for a run, go for a quick skipper. Yeah, people do. Um it's so accessible in Queenstown, you know, from where I was living, it's 30 minutes from my door to the top of the ski field.
Sam Miklos:So do you um because there's like about three ski fields around Queenstown, is that right? Like Coronet Peak, the Remarkables. Yeah.
Nicole Watts:And then you've got Cardrona, which is a little bit further. Um and then there's also Triple Cone. So there's four mountains sort of within the Central Lakes area.
Sam Miklos:And do you work on one of the mountains? Yes. Right. And so every day for work you get out go up to the mountain and you're stationed there waiting for people like me to break bones and take people out. Yeah, that's my job.
Kate Coomber:Can I go back and get to that? How how do you get into that sort of work? Or you don't have to be able to do that. How do you qualify? Yeah, was that always the dream once you started skiing and snowboarding and thinking, oh, I could do that?
Nicole Watts:Um I think it was something that just came by chance. You know, you spend a lot of time up there and everyone sees ski patrol in the red jacket with you know what they call the blood wagon and the people on the wreck. Yeah, that's um a reference people call it. Um and it looks cool. Um but I guess I never really thought much more about how I, you know, working as a nurse can do that.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, yeah, like what we're doing before. Sorry, we get very excited for killing me.
Nicole Watts:Um I was working in um an emergency department in Queenstown. So there's a small rural hospital there. So I was full-time um in the emergency department there. Right. And yeah, it was actually another colleague of mine who got me into that initially. She had taken on a job um with a company that uh provided the medical cover on this ski field. So it was then sort of an uh contractor company coming in and doing it.
Speaker 1:Right.
Nicole Watts:Um and she needed a job share. She was working part-time at the hospital and then got a full-time job, which she couldn't commit to up there, and asked if I would be interested in doing that. So I did.
Kate Coomber:Is the emergency experience really critical in those roles?
Nicole Watts:Like what do they look for, or is it more of a almost a general practice with a bit of emergency, or what's the Yeah, I definitely um think having emergency or critical care background is quite pertinent to working up there. Um obviously, you know, 75% of what you're dealing with is orthopaedic injury. Um a lot of bony injury, musculoskeletal presentation. So that also is beneficial. So, you know, I don't completely overlook people who work in urgent care centres that also would have that minor sort of musculoskeletal presentation experience as well.
Sam Miklos:So what would a typical day look like up there?
Nicole Watts:A typical day. Um we get on the staff bus at the bottom of the hill at 7.30, and you get this nice drive up to work. And then we work very closely with Ski Patrol. So we're actually technically under the same department umbrella. Um so 8 15, we have a meeting with them in the morning talking about snow condition and plans for the day and So they're the people who are running the safety of the ski resorts and things, are they? Yeah. So they are the red jackets that you see out there that you know will be up there at 4 30 in the morning doing avalanche control work if it's been snow heavily so that we can ski safely. It's like the lifeguards of the snow. Basically, they are out there doing all the hard work. Um Yeah, they're amazing at what they do and they love it. So they get multiple control days at 4 30 in the morning where they can throw explosives and trigger avalanches to prevent sort of one happening unexpectedly. Yeah. So they will go um and often are spending the morning hiking to various locations or avalanche risk areas, and they will trigger an avalanche there to sort of see if anything um is triggered. And yeah, that's how they keep it safe, really. They do it in a controlled environment rather than it happening uncontrolled with potential people being included.
Kate Coomber:And into the snow. Because you've never been. It's so strange.
Nicole Watts:You'll have to come and visit me now?
Kate Coomber:I think I'd be better than you.
Sam Miklos:I think you'd be way better than me. You would be you would pick it up, you can skateboard. I can barely walk in high hills some days. Um What do you do then for the day? Like is it just wait? Like, are you all in a medical centre? Is it a clinic? And who else is there? What are the healthcare professionals of the team?
Nicole Watts:Yeah, so um yep, we are in a clinic. Um, it's at the base of the hill. Um you work with one doctor and another nurse, and that is everyone you have there for the day. Um and yeah, w it is a bit of a waiting game. You have people walking in every now and again, and it can be as simple as needing a band-aid for a blister or you know, paracetal mold, ibuprofen, that sort of stuff. Um and then yeah, ski patrol will bring patients down to you. Um if it's really critical and they can't extract them from the accident scene comfortably, then sometimes we're taken to the patients to sort of administer pain relief or you know, in more serious accidents, have more experienced medical personnel on scene as well. Um yeah, so it's a mix of walk-in, ski patrol.
Kate Coomber:Can you maybe share something that's happened that's really stayed with you, like in that line of work?
Nicole Watts:Yeah. Um I think for me last year, it's actually not per se an accident. Um but last year it was eight o'clock in the morning, and I remember I was walking through the clinic to get my cup of coffee and this bus pulls in, which they never do that, and I thought it was weird, and then I walk outside, and um the bus driver is telling me that there's someone on the bus having a fit. So the door opens, walk onto the bus, I'm by myself. Um, and at the end of the bus there's a lot of commotion, and then um manage to make it through, and yeah, he's unconscious, not breathing. Um and so this man essentially had uh the forest on the back of the ski bus. W and we managed to um bring him back with two shocks, but all done in the back of the seat because you couldn't move him and you know his poor wife was under his legs because I'd laid him down. Um and so I think that was one thing that stuck with us purely because of location. Um I think also timing, if he have have done that, you know, on the access road up or anywhere else but reaching the top level car park, would we have had a successful story with being able to resuscitate him?
Kate Coomber:Yeah, absolutely. You're far away from uh the nearest hospital?
Nicole Watts:Um yeah, in terms of location it's about a half an hour drive. Um but we obviously work with a local helicopter crew. Um so I think by the time we rang them, they reached us within eight minutes of that phone call being made. So we can sort of turn them around quite quickly, but um again it is two nurses and a doctor and ski patrol.
Sam Miklos:And it must be um even though on the slopes, like thinking about me being left behind, there must be so many people where they're on their own and then they injure themselves and then their family's not there with them. Mm-hmm.
Kate Coomber:They're just people even who go there for, you know, a week's holiday and on day one I imagine, you see it all the time where it's just turned upside down.
Nicole Watts:Yeah, definitely. Um yeah, it's really unfortunate. And it is one question I ask whenever I find out they're from out of town, I'm like, Well, is this your first day? Like where are we on a holiday? Because that can, I think, determine how this patient takes their sort of situation and diagnosis. And um but yeah, you do have people coming up by themselves, um, obviously driven up or caught a bus by themselves, that you then have to think about disposition and how do we get, you know, this patient from here to where they need to go. Um and yeah, again you get mothers with children whose dad's in China and they're here by themselves and mum's injured. And so now you're having to transfer, you know, not only her but her child has to accompany. And what happens in that situation? Um We're quite limited. Yeah. We don't have a social worker. Um so we with this patient, she actually injured she had a mid shaft hip-fib fracture. Um so she was transferred down to Queenstown Hospital by ambulance and then would need to be transferred again to Imakargo, which was two and a half hours away for definitive care. Um and it was just a case of having to notify the local hospital that there's gonna be a child accompany because of the situation. Um and I'm not entirely sure from then how they coordinate that, but um that's nothing that we can necessarily.
Kate Coomber:And yeah. It must be really hard for any emergency worker.
Nicole Watts:Yeah, I think we're quite lucky um in that we have very close relationships with the local hospital. So um our clinical director, he is also employed by the hospital. So thankfully, sometimes on those bigger cases, we do get to get some feedback. And the same if we're transferring through um the Otago Halley service, they get to follow on and they will feedback to us as well.
Sam Miklos:So at least you kind of Yeah, you get to close the loop on some of those in terms of the patient outcomes. Is it an would you say it's uh mostly an incredibly stressful job?
Kate Coomber:And because are you team leading as well?
Nicole Watts:Yes. Um I yeah, I'm team leading for the mountain that I work for. Um it definitely can be stressful. Uh I think this season, you know, we had the the ski field itself had second busiest season on paper in terms of visitors and we would have had easily the busiest season we've had in terms of presentations. So our busiest day we saw 34 patients. Um and again that's you know quite a lot for two nurses and a doctor. Um and uh if you do get one of those more critical injuries, that pulls your entire resource. So it is something that you kind of have to just go through case to case, and you know, you you uh tend to one patient and get them the treatment that they need and where they need to be, and then you're straight on to the next person.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, because imagine if you're on one of those more critical cases and you're actually on site somewhere and then there's other people presenting, it would be so overwhelming, kind of where do I need to be?
Kate Coomber:And then when you've got people without support systems, maybe being a little bit more um you know, higher needs, I guess, in those moments, versus if they were here in a hospital where family can just come and see them. Yeah. If they're there alone, I imagine just the emotional support they need is probably higher.
Nicole Watts:I think it can be in times, especially when again going back to that holiday realisation sinks in and they're like, oh, this is day two, I've got a week left, what am I gonna do? Or it's like, you know, we've had um teenagers come on school trips from Australia where parents are in Australia and they, you know, have yeah broken a bone that's gonna need surgical management and they're with a school group and there's a few teachers and parents are now having to, you know, book flights to come over and does that happen often on school trips? It's happened a few times.
Sam Miklos:Yeah. That would be like the What about um I mean morbid, but is there a lot of fatalities that happen on the mountains?
Nicole Watts:I'm gonna um that's so good. Yeah, no, we have been so far um haven't had immortality in my employment time. That's right. Um I understand Australia's mountains haven't been so lucky this season. Um I've definitely heard of a couple of losses that they've had.
Sam Miklos:Um but we have thankfully managed to switch off because you know, if you have those days where you've had like 30, 40 cases and you're team lead, how do you finish the day? Do you go for a snowboard? Do you just want to get off the mountain?
Nicole Watts:Um it's thankfully a big team environment. Um, you know, I'm working with people, especially at say Ski Patrol, who have been friends of mine for years. So, you know, you've all been in there, you've done it together. Um we often have a hot debrief at the end of the day. Um, have a morning meeting, we'll talk about it. Um sometimes it's followed by a beer at the local brewery after you get down the hill, but um it is such a very supportive team environment. Um so I think you do just pull on those supports that you have in that team. Um and I guess I've been doing it now for quite a while. You know, this is my sixth season working up there. I think if you probably asked one of the, you know, newer employees that came on the team this year, they might have hopefully a similar response. But yeah, what what keeps you going back?
Kate Coomber:What do you love about it?
Nicole Watts:It's the people, I think. Um definitely the people, again, working with some really good friends of mine now. Um I love the environment. Snowboarding, skiing when it's not busy is a good perk. Um but I think also the pre-hospital care aspect of it, which changes your way of thinking compared to working, you know, in an emergency department where it's a lot more structured and how does it change your way of thinking? I think because you are limited, you know, you don't have everything you want on hand. Um so you're also the first person seeing this patient and assessing this patient and as opposed to when, you know, they come by ambulance and you've had someone else sort of already start that journey.
Kate Coomber:Like that remote nursing, isn't it? Yeah.
Nicole Watts:Yeah. So I just think, you know, you're up there with the basics and you have to do the basics well. And you don't have the luxury of, you know, the hospital supplies and the state-of-art technology that is coming through those hospital systems now.
Kate Coomber:You must really develop your critical thinking.
Nicole Watts:Hopefully, yeah.
Kate Coomber:Yeah.
Nicole Watts:And a lot of it's logistics too. Working again as you do in small remote places where your base hospital is two and a half hours away and you know our local trauma centre is three and a half hours away. So um I think just holding the patient at the forefront of your mind and then trying to do what's best for them and put them in the best place that they need to be as quick as they can.
Sam Miklos:Did and so do you work um just the season? Like are you the contractor? Then do you is that where you then have stepped into the locum workout in Australia as well?
Nicole Watts:Yes.
Sam Miklos:So how did that come about?
Nicole Watts:Like what what brought you here to do that? Um it's something that I think I'd wanted to do for quite a while. Uh back in my first season, two of the doctors were um FACEMs from Australia, and you know, they were encouraging go and see the world, go and work s other places, you know. So I think that was the seed. And then I was offered this team lead position. It was two and a half years ago now, or two and a half seasons ago, I took over from a good friend of mine who had um fallen to injury as well and couldn't see out the rest of the season, so did it part-time then and then decided to come on and do it full-time um for this season, which is May to October. Um and it was one of the girls last year that told me about CMR. She had worked with um CMR and said really good things and I decided that I didn't want to go back to, you know, my normal job working in Queenstown. And so yeah, I put an inquiry and I think it was about three weeks towards the end of the season. I had no idea where I was going or what I was gonna do or what was next. And so one morning I just um yeah put an inquiry in and then Joe rang me two hours later.
Sam Miklos:Wow. And so what sort of roles have you done out in Australia then?
Nicole Watts:Um I have worked I've only done two contracts so far, and first one was initially in Mackay, um, which is a regional ED, and then I went through into Morin Bar with a friend of mine. Yeah. Um so yeah, regional and bit more rural. Yeah.
Sam Miklos:It's crazy that when you think about with locum, I think that's the beauty of it, is like three weeks before you're like, I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going. But if you're open to that, like to just grab what's around, you yeah, you get to see so much.
Nicole Watts:Yeah, I think um it's a learning thing, I think, letting go of that sort of financial security as well and just being okay to be like, oh, this will work out. Because it always does. Yeah, yeah. You know. Um it was a great decision.
Kate Coomber:Yeah. And so you're here doing more contracts now over the Christmas period for the next couple of months, I believe. Yes. What are some of the things that that you really noticed as a difference, you know, to come over and start doing contract work? Are there some things you really need to get in a row before you can do that? If there were some other New Zealand nurses perhaps thinking, oh, I wouldn't mind doing that, what do they need to know?
Nicole Watts:Um I think that the hardest thing is actually just making the decision to do it.
Sam Miklos:Yeah.
Nicole Watts:And um, you know, I was lucky enough, I think, to fool on Joe, who has just helped me and made this process so easy. Um I think, you know, the the differences that I notice is that you turn up on day one and you are on the floor running from the minute you get there, you know. You're Is it different to New Zealand? Um, yeah. So I think typically I find we don't have really agency nurses in New Zealand. That's not something that's very common. Um so more often than not you're working sort of a casual part-time or you take on a permanent role and then you are orientated to that role. So you spend a few days as a supernumerary, and that's where you kind of learn the place, learn the systems. Um it's not that first hour that you turn up as you're carrying your paper. Here you go, here's on the bed. Wow, it's only go. Off you go now. Um so I definitely think you need to I think speak up. Um don't be afraid to sort of ask questions. Ask questions. Yeah, because you will spend time running around. Um and sometimes people uh don't help you. Um you know, in my experience, I think yeah, I've worked in a place where there was 18 agency nurses helping that emergency department. And I think it can get tiresome when you're constantly orientating new people through a system. Um and so yeah, you just have to sort of be bold and and step up and do it and put yourself out there. Um I don't think in in terms of sort of the the care delivery, it's not too different. Um I think ratios, your staffing ratios tend to be a little bit more preferable in Australia, which is always a bonus. Um but I don't think I particularly needed anything special sort of to get here.
Kate Coomber:It was and I I guess coming over and being unsure, particularly that financial sort of decision, can I back myself, can I go and you know, contract around, had the pay rates been favourable as well and been able, you know, that's given you some confidence that A, there is work, yeah, and I guess you've got support to find work, um but that financially that will work out for you?
Nicole Watts:Yes, definitely. Um you know, and I think uh the pay rate generally in Australia is much better. Um and with working within an agency, you know, is a little bit more better. Yeah, a little bit better. Um so I basically doubled my income by coming and doing this over here. Um and uh it it is sort of a draw card, definitely.
Sam Miklos:What about the logistics of coming over? So, you know, how long did it take you to get APRA? What did you realize? Where did you arrive and get away from the city? I had no idea. Like yeah, I'm a Kiwi nurse listening now and thinking. Here's my checklist. I want to earn double. Yeah. You know, you can't just get in a plane tomorrow. What's the checklist they need to go through and the time frames?
Nicole Watts:Yeah. Um I would say yeah, probably took me maybe a good month to five weeks. Because you do need ARPRA. Um, you need your super. That's your tax file number as well, which is something that you can't actually get until you're in Australia. So I had a three-hour layover in Brisbane, and so I was like, took care of that on my layover into my country.
Sam Miklos:Did you get your tax file number two? Yeah, within 24 hours. Right. What about your ARPRA though? How long?
Nicole Watts:APRA that took probably about three weeks. Right. Um and that was actually a lot easier than I anticipated. I think that will vary, I imagine, basically.
Kate Coomber:Basing on the country that you're coming from as well. Definitely, yeah. So the backlog at the time of how busy is it? Is it a busy season where we where they're processing a lot of applications?
Nicole Watts:Yeah. I th I'm not sure what the sort of standard time is, but I think um I just put in my personal details and you know, paid for registration and the I think there is a bit of reciprocal with the Australian Nursing and New Zealand Nursing Council. Um so it was a lot smoother than um I anticipated. And then I suppose the other thing is getting your indemnity insurance and finding a provider within Australia that can do that for you.
Sam Miklos:Yeah.
Nicole Watts:Um and then you come and get a bank account and a phone number and all those other little things.
Kate Coomber:I guess when you're here, are you contracting around and often there's accommodation provided obviously for those contracts? Do you have a base in Australia where you sort of base yourself and then go, or are you really going contract to contract in your time here?
Nicole Watts:Um contract to contract in my time here. That's great. Um Yeah, so I, as of now, don't actually have a base. Um I've just moved out of where I was living in Queenstown before coming here a week ago as well. Um so yeah, I'm kind of How does it feel? Um It's f quite freeing, I think, you know, just flying by the wind a little bit. Um But people will sit there and they'll be like, What are you doing? Where are you going? And you're just like, I have no idea. Um you are figuring it out. And you know, with contracting off. And two, you're only establishing that connection with these places four to six weeks prior. So yeah, and thankfully I've got contracts locked into 25th of January, and then after there I'm I'm free again. Yeah, yeah.
Sam Miklos:What what about um you know finding your community out here? You know, who did you know anyone out here? Have you found there's a a Kiwi community of nurses, or has it been the CMR community that you've learned on?
Nicole Watts:Yeah, um I think I I know people here, but they're quite scattered, and so no one was close to anywhere that I was working. It's huge. And I don't think I realised quite how big.
Kate Coomber:Had you been to Australia before you started working in Australia?
Nicole Watts:I had been, yeah. But it's, you know, go to the Gold Coast and go to Sydney and go to Melbourne and I think um not to Moran Bar. Not to Moran Bar, no. I um had never heard of it before. Yeah. Uh but again I think you go into these places, and thankfully where I was working at the time was a strong agency presentation, and you know, we were saying agency looks after agency, so made some really good friends from that. Um and again that actually led me to my second contract where I went with two of the girls that I'd met in Mackay, we'd manage to link in together through CMR.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Nicole Watts:Um and got on contract together. So had some connection there already. And then you do, I think, again in these smaller places, integrate into their small team environment quite quickly. Um so I don't have a Kiwi nursing group. Um it was actually funny but and coincidental that I was working with one of the girls who worked on the opposite ski field to me last season in my first contract. So that was quite funny um to find her in uh up central Queensland. Um but I think again it's just you have to put your foot out there and find it.
Kate Coomber:You have to be quite open, don't you? And I think adaptable. I think it's it can be wonderful and um the earnings can be great and the lifestyle can be great if it if it is for you. But I think if um you just have to be open aga and know that it's uh not always gonna go to plan. And there's always a solution, always.
Sam Miklos:What's what is the plan then? You know, do you are you gonna locum now around to the next ski season, then go back to Queenstown? Is that kind of, or are you thinking then you go overseas?
Nicole Watts:Um yeah, that so planning to locum through summer. Um at the moment, have loosely got the idea of going to Japan for a ski holiday in Japan around February, and then it'll be a case of yeah, coming back and locuming again until May. And then yeah, we'll go back to Queenstown and step into that role again.
Sam Miklos:That'd be novel having a ski holiday where you're not actually working, like you can actually go and enjoy it.
Nicole Watts:Yeah, and everyone raves about Japan. Um and I haven't done sort of a northern hemisphere winter before, so I think it'll just be um good to go and skateboard.
Kate Coomber:Is there anywhere in Australia that's on your on your hit list for that time that you're here where you'd love to go and work?
Nicole Watts:I would love to go to Tasmania. Yeah. Um so I think that's probably where I'm gonna try and go in the new year. Yeah. Um and also I think the Northern Territory is on my list as well.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, that'd be so different too if you compared to like Queenstown and I know. Yeah, like just the diversity of work there. It's amazing. Because the work you're doing is mostly emergency then. In In Australia. In Australia, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Kate Coomber:Oh no, go on.
Nicole Watts:No, um, yeah. I predominantly work in emergency and I just find, you know, like the the ski field job, you're often looking after well patients who, you know, have had a traumatic injury. Um but I feel like you don't get the complex medical care that you find in the emergency department. So I feel like they both feed a little bit of my interest in the job.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Nicole Watts:Um and they're very diverse. And I'm not someone who does well with stagnation.
Sam Miklos:So I'm constantly around and moving around. Thank you.
Nicole Watts:Yeah, I really enjoy the diversity that it brings there.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, a lot of exposure. And I imagine going into some of these rural contracts, you're going to get really different presentations that you're used to. Yeah. Really from farming incidents, from lots of road trauma to just the the caseload will be completely different. Yeah.
Nicole Watts:And even the venomation medicine, that's not something that you're taught in New Zealand because you know, we don't have snakes and deadly jellyfish. Yeah. That's a big learning curve actually.
Sam Miklos:It was. Yeah. Was there any other um training that you needed to do, like if before you came over here or when you came out here? Like that's an example of one where you weren't taught that. Is there anything else?
Nicole Watts:Um not necessarily. I I remember onboarding I had to do um modules, and you know, it's just quite your sort of standard stuff that you would see across the New Zealand as well. Um your hand hygiene, your e-blood safe, yeah, all of that stuff. Um obviously different patient systems in different hospitals, so that is something that I guess you orientate to in each place.
Sam Miklos:But it's just a lot of deadly animals.
Nicole Watts:Deadly animals, yeah. And y and you know, you kind of have to go and read up about it. Um Does that scare you about working here?
Kate Coomber:Or living here?
Nicole Watts:Living here? It definitely took me um a while to get comfortable. And I remember the first time I came home from an afternoon shift in McKay and opened my door and there was a huntsman in my room.
Sam Miklos:Oh, and I was still with them.
Nicole Watts:I didn't know what to do. Yeah, and they're so big it feels like you're killing like a massive I can't like And I yeah, I was like, I don't know if you know your normal fly spray works on these things. So I had to bring my friend and I was like, what do I do? Yeah, she's like, I'm coming over.
Sam Miklos:So a big colander, and I was like, I don't know what to do with this. Like I can't worry me so much. Oh god, they're gonna be a lot of small snakes that I am not good with.
Nicole Watts:Yeah, I thankfully haven't dealt or haven't seen in person a snake yet. Um you possibly won't, like, you know. Exactly. I should go to the NT.
Sam Miklos:You might, you might. Working across the two countries, um, you know, we talk about what's one change that we could make that would make healthcare happier for everyone involved. Is there one thing that comes to mind that you think we could change that would make it better for patients and healthcare workers?
Nicole Watts:It always comes down to funding, I think. Funding gives more staff. It improves access to treatment in a timely manner. Um I think Australia generally is quicker at getting, you know, interventions in place and I feel like wait lists from what my experience aren't as long to get uh scans done and those diagnostic interventions than what New Zealand has. But um I definitely unfortunately it always comes back to money and it's not something that's easily uh obtained.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, it's a really difficult one, isn't it? Is it being spent in the right places?
Nicole Watts:Exactly. Um, like in New Zealand recently they have or in the last couple of years had a change of government which has brought massive health care cuts. So there's you know, short staffing and staff higher freezing and which has put so much more pressure on an already pressure environment.
Sam Miklos:And then you don't have agency nurses either. So it's just yeah.
Nicole Watts:And then you know, in some areas I think I was reading and it was like fifty-four percent of day shifts were sh short staffed in nursing sector alone because of these things. And and it's all bigger than us, you know.
Kate Coomber:How do you retain the sector? How do you keep people engaged to keep working in the in the yeah?
Sam Miklos:And is there a big exodus from those changes of Kiwi nurses wanting to come out to Australia?
Nicole Watts:I I think yes and no. Um I know a lot that have come and done the contracting side. Um a lot of my friends have moved over. Um but then uh I know a lot of happy nurses working in New Zealand as well and enjoy the lifestyle.
Sam Miklos:So it's very about lifestyle and the purpose and yeah, exactly.
Nicole Watts:Yeah.
Kate Coomber:Look, with um every episode, CMR are gonna make a donation to a charity of your choice. Where can we send that money to for this episode?
Nicole Watts:I would love um to send this through to the Otago Southeast Helicopter Rescue Trust. Um so again, they're the local service that supplies or supplies care and helicopter um to majority of the South Island. Yeah. Um we work with them in the hospital, we work with them out to Ski Field, and I think Central Lakes District and Otago region would be lost without them. Yeah, that's amazing.
Sam Miklos:I love that. Thank you. It's um it's been great. I mean, just hearing about your career and just to be able to have, you know, the opportunity to work in ski fields, to now come out and locum in Australia, like what an amazing opportunity. And you know, I'm sure there'll be some young people out there that'll be so inspired. For me, when I go skiing next time, I am comfortable that someone is gonna be there, and that even if I'm on my own, they can get me out of there and they can help me out, and if my kids go on one of those ski holidays.
Kate Coomber:My son goes on a school ski trip next year, and I'm like, I'm okay.
Sam Miklos:I'm gonna call it what about your phone, don't call mum, call on a call and go yourself.
Nicole Watts:So no, it's been it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. No, thank you so much for having me, both here today and within the company.
Instrumental:We care.
Kate Coomber:We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which we meet, who for centuries have shared ancient methods of healing and cared for their communities. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
