高清福利片

Seven years聽ago聽Nicole was a traveller earning a little money聽on the side聽through nursing agencies in Sydney and Brisbane. Today, she is Head of Nursing Services with Primary Health Care Ltd, one of Australia鈥檚 leading private healthcare聽providers.

But Nicole鈥檚 story doesn鈥檛聽plateau there.听Early next year she will become Chief Nursing Officer at Primary Health Care and will, at the same time,聽join the nation鈥檚 leading MBA program at the University of Sydney Business School.

Her聽part-time聽studies聽will be funded by聽a prestigious $60,000聽Future Leaders聽MBA聽Scholarship.听

When talking of leadership, Nicole likes to quote the late United States President John F. Kennedy who was to have delivered a speech on the subject in Dallas on that fateful聽November聽day聽back in聽1963.

In that speech, the assassinated President was intending to say that 鈥渓eadership and learning聽are indispensable聽to each other鈥�.

Throughout her life, Nicole has been called upon to lead. In school it was sporting teams. Later, in the Canadian wilderness and at the聽world renowned聽Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, Los Angeles,聽it was teams of fellow healthcare workers.

Nicole聽now oversees聽the work of around 400 nurses undertaking an average of a million nursing consults a year across 72 medical centres.

鈥淲hen reflecting on my聽journey, I realise that my personal drive to succeed has聽always聽translated into a drive to facilitate the success of my teams,鈥� says Nicole. 鈥淭he Future Leadership MBA Scholarship聽will provide me with the learning聽mentioned聽in Kennedy鈥檚 undelivered speech.鈥�

鈥淚 need to strengthen the learning聽half of my leadership skill set,鈥� she explained. 鈥淚t is my aim in studying business to deepen my understanding of crucial elements such financial management, marketing, and business negotiations.鈥澛�

鈥淭his will equip me with the knowledge to make the best decisions for my team, articulate these decisions effectively to gain support, and聽build further confidence to advocate for the nursing profession and our patients.鈥�

Ultimately, Nicole wants 鈥渢o聽make a real impact on the health of Australians鈥�.听

鈥淩equiring particular attention is the critical shortage of General Practice (GP) Nurses,鈥� she聽said.听鈥淭his is doubly concerning considering our current ageing workforce and increasing patient workload.鈥澛犅�

鈥淲e need to make our field more appealing to nurses, as the future of General Practice depends on it.听 With exploration of new healthcare funding models upon us, our profession will be called upon to take on greater responsibility and we need to be prepared for that,鈥� Nicole concluded.

"We congratulate Nicole and are delighted to have her join the program," said the director of the MBA program, Professor鈥�. "Her journey from clinician to director of nursing in a large publicly listed firm is inspirational and I鈥檓 sure she will have much to offer to the other students in her cohort."

Nicole was selected from an initial pool of scholarship applications, who participated in a three-hour masterclass. That group was further whittled down to five.

The University of Sydney Business School has awarded the other four finalists 鈥撯�疍avid Brain, Felicity Bridger, Luke Byrnes and Katie Parker 鈥� with partial MBA聽scholarships.鈥�