Lynette Higgs

Nurse Manager, professional development and clinical support

Sydney Sydney Eye Hospital

“I knew I wanted to be a nurse when I was 4-years-old. There was an incident with my 3-year-old boyfriend at the time. He decided to ride our trike down a steep hill. I told him it wasn’t a good idea. When he came off and split his head open I had to run and call my mum. I think my words were: ‘Mum, mum, he’s fallen over and there’s blood everywhere and his head is cracked open.’ It wasn’t quite like that, but I was obviously the drama queen. That may have well influenced me; on reflection, I never wanted to be in a situation like that where I didn’t know what to do. I was delighted to get into nursing and I’ve never, ever entertained wanting to do anything else.

I currently run the programs for transitioning Registered Nurses and Enrolled Nurses. I love being with the new nurses, because they are our future. To nurture and help influence their practice at that very critical stage from a student and to a fully-fledged nurse, for me, it’s what I’m passionate about. I also look after all undergraduate placements and our relationships with education providers. I also provide professional development and quality improvement programs.

If I had a message for undergraduates and the newly graduated, I would say: keep your patients safe. Because everything you do underpins that - the conversations you have, the way you word things, the way you deliver the message as well as the way you perform your clinical duties,”