Message from the Secretary

Welcome to the world of nursing.

No doubt you have chosen to study nursing because you consider the profession of nursing will offer you more than 'just a job'.  Indeed the challenges, the happiness and sadness you will encounter, the friends you will make and the issues you will face will provide you with a rewarding and fulfilling career caring for others.

The move to university education for nurses gives you the opportunity to learn not only the technical skills and background knowledge associated with nursing, but also the broader context in which nursing takes place - the health system, the community and the workplace.

The Queensland Nurses' Union represents over 33,000 nurses in Queensland in all of these contexts and is the only independent professional nursing organisation that does. The QNU is run by nurses for nurses. Through our democratic structure, all our members have the opportunity to influence our policies as well as our day to day activities.

One of the things you will learn through your studies is the importance of advocacy. You will learn of your obligation to advocate on behalf of the patients you care for. You will learn of your obligation to report instances of mistreatment of patients. The QNU is also involved in advocacy. We provide nurses with the opportunity to participate in 'collective' advocacy on behalf of nurses as well as the community we serve.

Please take the opportunity to surf through our website and learn more about some of the activities we are involved in on behalf of the nursing profession.

I hope you find our website and links interesting and useful to you in your studies.

Once again, welcome to the world of nursing and I would of course take this opportunity to invite you to join us if you have not already considered membership of the QNU. For full-time nursing students not engaged in any nursing work we offer membership for around $38 a year. To find out more, go to Why Join QNU or straight to our How to Join page.

Sincerely,
Gay Hawksworth
SECRETARY