FORMER local Leighlan Phillips has upgraded her qualifications to become a nurse practitioner.
Ms Phillips works at Mildura Base Public Hospital, having moved from Brisbane to Mildura with her husband in 2017.
She worked as a community drug and alcohol nurse but recently graduated with a Masters of Nurse Practitioner.
At the end of last year, Ms Phillips was the first person to complete a nurse practitioner course at MBPH, specialising as a drug and alcohol nurse practitioner.
Ms Phillips was born in Broken Hill, with her father working in the mines. They moved around a lot when she was young, leaving Broken Hill when she was five years old but returning where she attended Broken Hill High School.
Working within Community Health, Ms Phillips could see there was a lack of services that a nursing practitioner could help provide.
“There was a need to increase access to addiction treatment in Mildura, particularly around the provision of medication assisted treatment of opioid use disorder methadone and buprenorphine,” she said.
“A nursing practitioner can fill that gap.”
Ms Phillips received a few scholarships to help her study.
She added she really enjoys her work in community drug and alcohol units.
“I worked for seven years in an inpatient withdrawal unit,” she said.
“Nursing practitioners work as part of a team, but they do have more autonomy – they can prescribe medications, diagnose and treat and order investigations.
“I love it, I find it very rewarding.
“I especially find that methadone and buprenorphine work really quickly to stabilise patients to help get them back into their lives.
“That way they can start to work on their mental health without having to worry about going into withdrawal.
“Drugs like heroin can have a huge impact, but it’s not just those drugs – it can be pain killers as well.”
To become a nurse practitioner, you need to have at least five years post graduate experience as a registered nurse. In addition, you need to have two years in advanced practice and two years in a specialty area.
To be accepted into the course you also need to have a post graduate certificate in your chosen field.
Along with academic studies nurse practitioner students (called candidates) are required to undertake supervised clinical practice over two years with mentors who are either an endorsed NP or medical doctor.
Ms Phillips said her mother still has a house in the city, but her grandparents have moved to Cairns.
She loves Broken Hill and comes back to visit all the time.
