6 November 2024

Meet David Thomas!

David is Nurse Unit Manager for 5 East, our Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery and Cardiology ward. “I’ve been working at Austin Health since 1990. My graduate nurse year at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital instilled wonderful foundational values, whilst having the honour of caring for our veterans and their families. I completed my Graduate Certificate in Critical Care at Repat and commenced at the Austin Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in 1995, having only seen liver transplant, cardiac surgery and spinal patients in textbooks,” David says.

5 East is a 32-bed cardiology, cardiac and thoracic surgery ward with a high patient turnover. We provide support predominantly for cardiac diagnostics for post procedural patients and our ICU post-surgery. We also admit a high volume of patients from the emergency department and have an important role in supporting regional health services including the north-east through Wangaratta Health Services.

“Austin Health has afforded me many opportunities working with wonderful mentors. I’ve worked as an emergency, medical and surgical nurse, long term ICU nurse and Associate Manager. I’ve also worked quality and patient safety roles, had a short hiatus as chief nurse on a Caribbean cruise ship, a project role at Ambulance Victoria piloting a video-conferenced Medical Emergency Team service for Grampians Health, Acting Director of Nursing and Divisional Manager and I am currently the Nurse Unit Manager with 122 staff on 5 East.

“The 5 East team is fantastic to work with and proudly represent. We have a high percentage of post graduate qualified staff and great support from a team of clinical nurse specialists, led daily by a crew of dedicated Associate Nurse Unit Managers who guide patient care and flow through 5 East. We provide high acuity nursing across 12 beds with haemodynamic monitoring and advanced practice nurses and 18 beds with ambulatory telemetry monitoring. For our patients, it’s often a sudden, unexpected admission post heart attack which requires a very specific approach to admission, supportive care and discharge planning.

“Although at risk of being cliche, there’s something about Austin Health that is very special, and it lives within the wards, offices, corridors and tea rooms. The can-do approach is embedded in every interaction. I struggle to recall times when staff have not been supportive of my needs or responsive to my enquiries. Joining Austin Health means you buy a ticket to this philosophy and the responsibilities attached to it,” David explains.

If you are looking for your next career opportunity, view our current opportunities to find out more about how you could join us at Austin Health.