Outstanding nursing student carries on family tradition

Outstanding nursing student carries on family tradition

When she had to choose between nursing and medicine, Hannah Farrow followed family tradition and opted for the challenges of emergency nursing.

Named CPIT’s High Performing Bachelor of Nursing student last week, Hannah has now completed her degree, passed the nursing registration exams and accepted a job at the Intensive Care Unit at Christchurch Hospital. After a year in ICU Hannah plans to join her mother in emergency ward nursing. Her sister is also an emergency ward nurse in Sydney - all three trained at CPIT, but at different times.

“Nursing is the best career. I’m a people person so I love the interaction with patients and the teamwork with the other nurses. There are so many learning opportunities, it never ends. And it is really flexible. I want a family one day and I was going to do medicine, but I am so happy I chose nursing. You can be 9 to 5 or just work a few days a week.

Nursing is a global profession Hannah says. “Nursing is up and coming in the world. These days it’s not just bedpans; there are a lot of nurse-led initiatives now. It’s going to blossom in the next 20 years because nurses are needed everywhere in the world, even on cruise ships, a ski field in France – the world needs more nurses!”

Hannah received a Frontier Medical stethoscope for achieving excellence in clinical practice and for an academic record that boasted 11 As. Many members of her family attended the presentation.

She was attracted to the acuity of emergency nursing, she said. “It’s challenging as a nurse, it tests your intervention skills and every day is different. You are helping people in that acute time, when they might be very fearful. I like giving a patient care from the start.”

Studying at CPIT, she felt she had “hit the jackpot” with the tutors who trained her, describing the relationship more like working with colleagues than as a student-teacher dynamic.

CPIT has one of New Zealand’s largest nursing programmes. Close links with the Canterbury District Health Board and other health providers mean many opportunities for graduates and one of the country’s highest rates of employment.

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