Alumni Spotlight
Koonung Secondary College
Eloise Thompson (Class of 2012)
Current Role:
Eloise wears a number of hats in her professional life:
- Associate Nurse Unit Manager (ANUM) in Epworth Emergency
- Clinical Research Nurse at the Baker Institute
Eloise’s diverse roles demonstrate her commitment to patient care, research, and education.
Favourite memory from my time at Koonung Secondary College?
Eloise found it hard to select just one favourite memory because she had so many!
‘Many of my cherished moments revolve around my involvement in the music program. The swing band and our small rock band were particularly memorable. In year 10, we had a standout performance where we cleverly rewrote the lyrics of ‘Stayin’ Alive’ for our chemistry teacher, Mr Marsh. Our playful adaptation served as a commentary on his disdain for tardiness and his fondness for the royal blue KSC blazer. While our silly songs may have been appreciated mainly by our close-knit group, the Talent Quests, music concerts, musicals, and lunchtime rehearsals made my time at Koonung truly special.’
What are your job responsibilities?
As a senior member of the nursing team, Eloise is responsible for running the emergency department floor, providing clinical support to staff, team leading resuscitation and coordinating the medical team. Clinical nurse specialists provide advanced nursing care to critically ill patients and provide life-saving interventions in the emergency setting. They triage patients according to their clinical state and risk of deterioration, to ensure the sickest patients are seen first, and treat a range of presentations.
Eloise’s Baker Institute role is a mixture of clinical and research. She runs a diagnostic ECG, holter and 24-hour blood pressure monitoring service and see patients in the cardiology clinic, where she will work as a nurse practitioner (NP) once her AHPRA registration is finalised mid 2024. In the Cardiometabolic and Exercise Physiology (CHEP) lab, she conducts research where exercise is used as intervention for a range of cardiovascular disease. They have just received an NHMRC grant to examine the effects of a glp-1 agonist drug on patients with heart failure (HFpEF), which will commence recruitment soon. Once her NP registration is finalised, she will start a PhD with the lab.
At La Trobe University she is a sessional academic, which involves a mixture of presenting lectures, running clinical skills workshops and simulations for the Bachelor of Nursing students.
What do you enjoy about your variety of roles?
Eloise loves the balance of different elements of each role. The fast-paced nature of the emergency department appeals to the rapid decision-making part of her brain, and being involved in research allows her to nurture the scientifically curious part of her that strives for innovation and learning.
What is a professional highlight of your career, either where you currently work or in the past?
‘I remember one of the first days at triage in ED, where a man presented with odd symptoms. Everything looked normal but something in his story didn’t quite add up, and I had a gut feeling that something was very wrong. I triaged him as a category 2 – urgent (to be seen within 10 minutes) and brought him into a cubicle. I argued with the in-charge nurse and the doctor, they wanted to know why he was a Cat 2 when everything was looking normal. As I explained, the patient went into cardiac arrest. We were able to resuscitate him and found that one of the arteries in his heart was almost completely blocked. If he had arrested in the waiting room, his outcomes would have been a lot worse, and he might have died. That day I was hit with the gravity and responsibility I had as a triage nurse and realised that my clinical decision making had saved someone’s life.’
What advice do you have for Koonung students wanting to follow a similar career path?
‘Working in hospitals is hard work, regardless of if you’re in nursing, medicine, or allied health. Emergency departments and critical care are incredibly rewarding specialties; however, they are physically and emotionally demanding environments to work. A nursing registration is incredibly broad and can open many opportunities in a wide range of roles, and your career won’t be confined to working at the bedside in a hospital if that’s what you decide. A career in health care is hard work, and it will change you. My advice for a career in nursing is to set boundaries and advocate for yourself. As a female-dominated job, nursing is often portrayed as a vocation rather than a profession, tying into the narrative of unpaid and undervalued women’s work. This narrative of “duty” and “vocation” takes away from the high level of skills and knowledge demonstrated by critical care registered nurses, especially during the covid-19 pandemic, where there was an expectation for sacrifice (high personal risk, low nurse-patient ratios, skilled staff shortages) due to the nursing identity of being “selfless angels”. We are educated, highly skilled professionals, and most importantly human beings. Know your worth, set boundaries, and advocate for yourself.’
What message would you give to your Year 12 self?
'Failure is opportunity in disguise. ATAR is not that serious. I didn’t get the ATAR I needed for the course I wanted and ended up in a career completely different to my degree. Doing a Bachelor of Environments before my nursing degree meant that I had an extra 3 years to mature and experience life before my grad year. 18-year-old me was way too shy to talk to patients! I failed to get into med school twice (even after scoring in the 95th percentile on the GAMSAT), but now am grateful that I didn’t pursue a career in medicine. I’ve somehow fallen onto a path that is exactly where I need to be, and I’ve had experiences and opportunities that I’ve never thought possible. Someday you’ll be walking through doors that you once prayed would open. So relax, work hard, and follow your interests. Things will work out ‘
ALUMNI PROGRAM IMPACT SEMESTER 1, 2024.
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Nancy Manders
Koonung Secondary College
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Koonung Secondary College’s Alumni Program is being developed in partnership with Ourschool, https://ourschool.net.au/, a not-for-profit service that helps government secondary schools build thriving alumni networks to benefit current students and the school community.