JOURNEY OF AN ICU NURSE ON INTERNATIONAL NURSES DAY 2025
With
Kate Leigh, Clinical ICU Nurse
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia
PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE SEGMENT
Filmed in Nedlands, Western Australia | May 2025
Kate Leigh is a clinical nurse at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Intensive Care Unit in Perth, Western Australia, with seven and a half years of experience in intensive care, having started her career in London as a new graduate nurse. Initially focused on haematology, she found herself drawn to ICU after meeting a confident and knowledgeable nurse during a discharge. Inspired by his expertise and assuredness, Kate decided to pursue a transfer to Critical Care after seeing an internal advertisement that highlighted educational opportunities and professional development programs.
Since her transition, Kate has found the ICU environment to be incredibly supportive and welcoming. Despite not knowing anyone in the field before her entry, she fostered strong relationships with colleagues and has remained in Critical Care ever since, enjoying her role each day. Currently, she is involved in various projects aimed at enhancing patient and family experiences in ICU, such as the Three Wishes project, which focuses on providing palliative care and comfort items for patients and their families.
Additionally, Kate emphasises the importance of preventing ICU admissions and readmissions through early intervention and patient monitoring. Her work with the Metcal team and clinical nurse specialists aims to identify and address issues with deteriorating patients on the wards before they require intensive care, demonstrating her commitment to improving patient outcomes within the critical care environment.
Source: Written by AUDIENCED from transcript
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Intersection of multiple births, birth trauma and perinatal mental health
Mothers of multiples are five times more likely to experience depression and have triple the rates of anxiety compared to mothers of singletons. Danya McStein is a Clinical Team Manager at Gidget Foundation Australia, talks about mothers expecting twins showing prenatal depressive symptoms, while postpartum, facing higher risks of clinical exhaustion and postpartum depression.
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Using human skin hair follicles to treat Alzheimer’s disease
Professor Michael Valenzuela is a science opinion leader, innovator and creative thinker with a career-long commitment to the prevention and treatment of dementia.
Following that he completed graduate medicine and medical training at the Prince of Wales Hospital. In 2012, he established the Regenerative Neuroscience Group at the University of Sydney, and in 2017 became the university’s first Professor of Regenerative Medicine.
Professor Valenzuela’s group discovered a new cell type with potential for regenerative medicine, a rare neural precursor cell found deep within the human hair follicle. He is the main inventor on several related patents and is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Skin2Neuron – a biotech company developing the first neurorestorative cell therapy for Alzheimer’s disease based on this work.
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Medical colleges reform to address accessibility, affordability and rural challenges
Australia’s specialist medical colleges are introducing significant changes to their training selection processes to tackle the ongoing shortage of specialist doctors in rural and remote areas. The Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC), in collaboration with the National Rural Health Commissioner, has unveiled new guidelines that prioritise candidates with rural backgrounds and experience during trainee selection.
