Joy brings inspiration to countless nursing students at CQU

By Greg Chapman

Every day at CQUniversity Joy Matthews is moulding the nurses of the future into compassionate, competent health professionals.

Since 2016, Joy has led the Diploma of Nursing at CQU’s Bundaberg campus, teaching hundreds of students how to ignite and strengthen the connection between nurse and patient.

“My teaching focuses first on building relationships because that is what sustains us as nurses as we do the hard emotional labour of nursing - and I know it is true that patients remember the nurse who made them feel seen and heard, not the one who got the canula in first go,” she said.

“I have always enjoyed teaching, and I think back to how the nurses made me feel when I was a patient, and how my many preceptors over the years: the good ones who taught and inspired me, have influenced my life. 

“The joy in teaching for me comes from the transformations I see in people as they gain confidence in their skills, seeing them learn to nurture their curiosity and realise their impacts on their patients and patient families, but also on their own families.” 

Joy’s path to becoming a nurse herself wasn’t a straight line. In fact, her interests were more equine than medical.

“The reason I slipped into nursing was because I was got very sick in my late teens and was unable to return to my work as a horse-riding instructor,” she said.

“I know it sounds crazy but while I was in hospital for quite an extended period of time (I had always been physically strong and suddenly couldn’t even get myself out of bed) the student nurses would gather in my room and chat and make me laugh and I felt the camaraderie and bonds they formed while facing the adversity of working long hours, studying and learning to deal with humans in their most vulnerable moments was inspiring.

“I signed up for nursing school a few months after leaving hospital and have never looked back. I started nursing in 1981 and qualified in 1984. In those days, student nurses were paid a wage, and we worked eight weeks at a time on the wards with residential schools of between two and six weeks between each placement.” 

After moving to Australia in 2000, Joy reskilled in rural and remote nursing work and completed midwifery training and a Masters in Remote and Indigenous health before venturing out into remote areas of Australia. 

Everything Joy has learned she pours into her training of students at CQU. 

“The Diploma course is a very practical course with lots of laboratory time, practicing not just the tasks: the bed making, ECGs, wound care and medications, but also practicing having difficult conversations, practicing the language of health care (and I don’t just mean the medical jargon),” she said.

“I think the students’ steepest learning curve is that first 12 months after qualifying and I hope that the time we spend building their personal skills, handling difficult situations, learning to ask for help and knowing that learning means change - and change can be uncomfortable, but they can handle it - will ensure their longevity in the profession.” 

She said her proudest moments were seeing her yearly cohorts crossing the graduation stage. 

“I clap my hands sore every year! There are so many proud moments, whether it’s the student who was timid and shy who is now team leader on the floor, or the ones who went straight into the degree and achieved a distinction in their higher studies, or the single mums who juggled work and kids and held it together and are now inspiring their own children.

“There are some truly inspiring students who are making changes within themselves that will benefit their family and their community. There is a ripple effect when students from regional Australia are engaged in learning, we know that students mostly stay in their local area after qualifying and that helps lift the whole community. 

“In Bundaberg we have students who travel in from as far away as Clermont, Emerald and Barcaldine and even one who travelled up from NSW.

“CQU is the only University in this area that offers the Diploma as a mixed mode course which really helps students to juggle work/family and study.”

Learn more about the Diploma of Nursing.