CENA South Australia

Profile

Michelle Cruse
RN, BNurse (Hons) (Newcastle), Ortho Cert (CON), CertAdvPrac (Crit Care) (Newcastle), MCN
CENA National Director
Registered Nurse, Emergency

Hello everyone, it has been a terrific learning curve for me as Branch President for CENA South Australia. My background since graduation from the (then) Prince Henry, Prince of Wales Group Hospitals in Sydney in 1984 has been rather diverse. This has included Aged Care, Agency and casual pool nursing stints, Orthopaedic Unit at Westmead Hospital, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Orthopaedics at Westmead Hospital (Trauma High Dependency Unit) and Clinical Nurse Educator at Mt Druitt Hospital until moving to the Central Coast of NSW in 1993. It was while working as a generalist relief nurse on the Central Coast that I became a permanent member of the very busy and evolving Emergency Department at Wyong Hospital.

I have a strong personal commitment to education - completing an Orthopaedic Certificate in 1990, graduating with a Bachelor of Nursing (Hons) in 2002, completing my Certificate of Advanced Practice (Critical Care) in 2004. I am currently studying with University of South Australia enrolled in the Masters of Nursing Science (NP).

I moved to South Australia at the beginning of 2005 and found a home in the Emergency Department at Modbury Public Hospital and held the position of Clinical Nurse Specialist. At the end of 2005 I moved to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital ED but I am currently involved in a 5-month research project with the Department of Health. I’ll return to the QEH in June. My areas of interest lie in education, research and practice standards, and I look forward to playing an active role in the advancement of CENA in SA and Emergency Nursing as a Profession.