Jen combines nursing & admin expertise on secondment
KINNECT have a deep appreciation for the variety of talents our people have that lie outside their primary qualification, and we love finding opportunities that allow them to exercise multiple skill sets at once. A perfect example is Senior Occupational Health Nurse, Jen Thompson, who has drawn on her medical, administrative and project management expertise to work on secondment for KINNECT clients – most recently, in major construction.
Jen began her nursing career just on 30 years ago, obtaining her qualification as one of the early cohort of nurses trained through the university system at Deakin University in the 1990s before embarking on a truly varied career: “After graduating, I started off in Paediatrics with a graduate program at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, spending many years caring for sick children.
“Moving into paediatric clinical trials, I chose a post-graduate in medical science (pharmacokinetics and pharmacology). My career then morphed into senior administration and operations management in research which I did for about 12 years, but I kept my nursing registration, overseeing nurse researchers and doing the odd shift,” she explained.
Jen’s first exposure to occupational health came when she worked as an operations manager for a medico-legal firm, assisting to set up quality assurance systems for impairment assessment. Since joining KINNECT in 2020 as an Occupational Health Nurse, Jen has found several opportunities to exercise her broad medical, project and administrative skills through some fascinating secondments.
Secondments take Jen from hands-on to minds-on nursing
Having completed a few short-term projects, Jen’s first long term project was a six-month secondment with a Queensland Government department in 2022 where she was part of a team working within a wellbeing hub to establish a health monitoring program. Part of this project included travelling around Brisbane to various locations to conduct health surveillance monitoring in the pilot program.
“It was great because I could use my project management and senior-level administration skills, as well as my medical knowledge.
“I take my hat off to people doing hands-on nursing all the time, but I like to do a bit of both, and I can at KINNECT.
“When this second secondment opportunity came up, I put my name forward straight away,” Jen said.
She was accepted for the secondment and for the last three months, Jen has been in a full-time project role as Senior Medical Advisor to a construction company in central Brisbane.
“They’re a national company who take on large projects so it’s a great opportunity to be useful across many aspects of construction,” Jen said.
“While on secondment, I’m known as a Health Management Coordinator and I help to unravel health-related challenges in the pre-employment and health surveillance space.”
“It’s a completely administrative role, yet I’m using my occupational health nursing knowledge on a daily basis. I make sure that the recommendations from occupational health physicians are in line with what the company is willing to accommodate.” Jen explained.
“When you’re working with a national company, you’re dealing with regulations that are different state to state, so you must be aware of what’s required. It’s been a great role for building my knowledge base as there’s a lot of research required – I’ve got a pile of legislation sitting next to me on the desk!” she said.
Jennifer is keen to impress that these office-based administrative secondments wouldn’t necessarily be right for every nurse because of the skills required, but projects in general are a great way for nurses to grow at KINNECT: “They’re excellent for nurses who have additional experience or interests, and they allow for variety to step out from the clinic for short or longer periods. They’re also important for expanding our relationships with these organisations,” she said.
Flexibility and autonomy still a priority
Jen enjoys the autonomy she gets in this role but appreciates the support she receives: “I’ve got a supervisor at the secondment who I defer to, and I can reach out to KINNECT colleagues when I need to check in,” Jen explained.
The flexibility Jen enjoys whilst on secondment is also an attraction as she is able to work some days at home, which is not the case whilst working in the clinic.
As for the future?
“I’ve just been extended another six months at this current secondment. Then I return to my role supporting KINNECT’s Nundah and Woollongabba clinics,” Jen explained.
KINNECT is proud to offer a variety of short and long project opportunities to all our registered nurses and allied health staff. Not only does it help them grow personally and professionally, but KINNECT benefits from the new experiences, skills and perspectives they bring back with them.
If you’d like a role that genuinely offers a diverse range of tasks and growth opportunities, explore the vacancies in our Careers Centre.