CARE IS A CALLING
Mediclinic nurses are the best at what they do – bringing a unique mix of clinical expertise and natural desire to help people in need, every day.
Fresh out of matric in Citrusdal, Amoné Burger didn’t know what she wanted to do next. But when she was invited by her aunt to a shadow work week at Mediclinic Vergelegen, it was there that she found her calling.
“A nurse is somebody who cares,” she realised. “Not just about their patients, but everybody around them – their colleagues, the doctors, everybody. You must care.”
This natural affinity to want to help others when they need it most is an essential quality for a nurse, says Ann van Zyl, acting General Manager: Training & Development at Mediclinic Southern Africa. “In any hospital unit, in any nursing team, there is no space for ego. It takes a lot of perseverance to do this job well, and you need to put your patient at the centre of what you do,” she says.
“I feel like nursing chose me.”
Amoné Burger, Professional Nurse, Mediclinic Panorama
“You must be able to trust your teammates, and that’s what’s important to me,” says Burger, who now works as a Professional Nurse in the Emergency Centre at Mediclinic Panorama. “The people I’m working with are like my family now.”
More than 30 years ago, Mediclinic became a registered teaching institution to address a shortage of qualified nurses across the country. The institution has been registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a private higher education institution since 2008, and today this programme is a large-scale National Higher Education initiative, across seven training centres, educating about 1 000 nurses a year.
Here, prospective nurses are taught to blend their natural compassion with rigorous clinical training.
And it’s paying off. On average, about 70% of nurses who undergo training at one of our training centres choose to continue their professional career at a Mediclinic hospital.
“We want to create a higher education brand,” says Van Zyl. “We want to make these opportunities more visible so they’re more appealing to students and it’s easier to apply for one of these learning programmes.”
The Mediclinic Higher Education and Training institution offers a one-year Higher Certificate in Nursing, and a three-year Diploma in Nursing programme.
Both are accredited by the Council on Higher Education, South African Nursing Council and registered by the Department of Higher Education and Training, and both lead to a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework. Each programme comprises modules that incorporate anatomy, physiology, professional practice, nursing science, psychology, and sociology.
“You work more in the hospital than you work in class,” says Burger. “That’s important because when you’re done with your studies, the day you qualify, you know what to do. You feel like you really want to be here, and you’re making a difference.”
Are you called to care? Find out more about our learning opportunities here.
Images: Supplied
