Loretta Fitzgerald
Lecturer, School of Health
Qualifications
MN, BA, RN
Contact
| Email: | lfitzger@une.edu.au |
| Room: | Pat O'Shane Buidling (C13) |
| Phone: | 02 6773 3642 (or +61 2 6773 3642 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3666 |
Hi and welcome to my web page. I am a lecturer in Nursing at the School of Health.
I was first employed by the University of New England (then the Armidale College of Advanced Education) in 1988. In the intervening years I have taught in both pre-registration and post registration courses for nurses, in undergraduate and post-graduate courses in on-campus and off-campus modes. While working and raising children, I have also studied in off-campus mode - a circumstance that has given me some appreciation of the challenges of studying while maintaining relationships with family, the responsibilities of full time work and a satisfactory level of enjoyment of life.
My studies began with a Certificate in Nursing at Manning Base Hospital in Taree which I completed in 1980. Shortly after my graduation as a nurse, I enrolled as an off-campus student in a Bachelor of Arts at the University of New England, and eventually came to live in Armidale to complete my degree internally. With a large component of psychology in my Bachelor degree, I began teaching in nursing courses, with a focus on all aspects of psychology as they relate to nursing. That focus has expanded and I have taught units in a range of areas including sociology in nursing, nursing theories, professional issues in nursing, medical/surgical nursing, rural health, palliative care and dying, communication, stomaltherapy, occupational health nursing, diabetes management, pain management, gerontology and transcultural nursing.
In 1990, I spent a year teaching theoretical and practical nursing in the Solomon Island and in 1995, I took part in a short-term (six weeks) teaching exchange at Vardhogskolan i Boden in the north of Sweden, and visited several schools of nursing in Scandinavia and Iceland. In 1999, I explored schools of nursing in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These activities reflect my interest in international aspects of nursing and human endeavour and have added immeasurably to my understanding of people in all stages of health and compromised health, and thus to my teaching.
In 1997, I went to Taree fro three months as Director of the School of Health Clinical School, a position that I remained in for three and a half years. My experience in coordinating the clinical praxis for students srengthened my commitment to the integration of clinical and academic aspects of education for nurses and provided me with a wealth of opportunities for interaction with nurses in professional practice.
In 2002, I completed my Master of Nursing degree with the Flinders University of South Australia. The thesis component of this degree included the project Nursing Runs in the Family: An oral history of three generations of nurses in one Australian family.
In 2003, I indulged my passion for international travel, my love of all things Celtic and explored the land of my ancestors (Ireland) for a year, beginning with a visit to Goleen in West Cork, the birthplace of my paternal grandfather, to plant some potatoes.
Areas of Teaching
I have been teaching nursing programmes in the tertiary sector since 1988 and have taught a wide variety of topics. In recent years, my teaching responsibilities have included human growth and development, social and environmental influences on human functioning, nursing theories, gerontology and transcultural nursing.
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