Travelling.....

I am currently preparing for a trip to Australia - to Sydney - and to meet with colleagues at the University of Technology Sydney as part of my Florence Nightingale Foundation leadership scholarship. It's an exciting prospect, not least because I was last in Sydney in 1987 when my friend Sarah and I packed our bags after we had qualified and set off to see the world. We saw quite a bit of that world in Sydney when we worked as agency nurses in Kings Cross Hospital. Having only been qualified for 6 months, we certainly felt that we learnt a lot about all sorts of specialties, and about management of care in an international setting. I have  always remembered those experiences, and value the learning even now. One of the amazing things about choosing a career in nursing is the opportunities that exist for us internationally. Some of the students that are in my personal tutor group, and who finish this year, hope to travel at some point in their career. I hope they do - as moving out of our comfort zone brings something extra into our professional practice when we come home again.