Ruby has worked as a Registered Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at The Prince Charles Hospital for about two years. She is passionate about ICU nursing, specifically being able to care for individuals and their families when they are most unwell and provide support and facilitate empowerment as they move towards independence.
One of the many rewarding aspects of Ruby’s job involves caring for patients following heart and lung transplants, where she witnesses firsthand the incredible gift of organ donation and its ability to give people a second chance at life.
Ruby completed the Queensland Health ICU Transition Program and is enrolled in a Graduate Certificate in Intensive Care Nursing.
She recently attended the 2022 ANZICS/ACCCN Annual Scientific Meeting and regularly participates in workshops relating to critical illness and device management. These educational opportunities have improved her clinical knowledge and decision-making abilities, skills that she now applies when providing safe, evidence-based, consumer-focused care.
Ruby also attended a preceptor program in June 2022 to enhance her transformational leadership abilities and help her motivate and inspire undergraduate students and graduate nurses to become role models for the nursing profession.
Ruby assists Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nursing students with their studies through an Indigenous Higher Education Unit, recognising the vital role First Nations health professionals hold in the provision of culturally safe care and increasing access to health services and improving health outcomes for First Nations communities.
"I’m currently training as an on-call organ retrieval nurse. Organ donation and transplantation is something I’m incredibly passionate about and I feel tremendously grateful to be given the opportunity to train in this role and broaden my professional scope of practice. I believe that by developing this unique set of skills, I can better serve the community, improve patient outcomes, and in a very small way contribute to the gift of life."