Wilhelmina Long

Clinical Nurse Consultant Grade 3
Clinical Nurse Specialist Grade 1
Spinal Cord Injuries Unit
Royal North Shore Hospital
St Leonards NSW 2065

Welcome to my e-portfolio, a showcase of clinical leadership in nursing practice in Sydney, Australia.

This website provides a wonderful resource for private interaction with me, sharing of stories, learning from my experiences during my post-graduate degree posted within my blog, Taking Leadership for a Blog, and watch my progress towards my Masters of Clinical Nursing (Leadership in Practice) through distance education from the University of Tasmania, Australia.

Here you will see useful journals - currently under my review - with application in the field of rehabilitation nursing of spinal cord injured (SCI) patients in Sydney, Australia; find links to approved websites, and podcasts, associated with the lived experience of SCI patients and those who care for them; and read my blog.

See the events the Spinal CNCs are hosting, and attending, during the year and express interest in clinic appointments.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Maya Angelou

About Me

Grade 3 Clinical Nurse Consultant for Spinal Injuries at Royal North Shore Hospital on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

An experienced Clinical Nurse Specialist from the Spinal Injuries Unit at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, with a demonstrated history of longevity and authenticity in the hospital & health care industry.

Highly skilled in Nursing Education, Acute Spinal Injury Care, Rehabilitation Nursing, Healthcare Management, Prevention of Readmission, with exemplary Customer Service.

A nursing professional with a Bachelor of Nursing with Professional Honours (Leadership in Practice) from University of Tasmania. Chosen for it's capacity to articulate into a Master of Clinical Nursing (Leadership in Practice). This is my next practice improvement goal in my leadership journey.

I am a resonant, authentic, visible clinical leader with goals promoting practice improvement around spinal cord injury nursing and providing excellent service delivery for the NSW State Spinal Cord Injury Network and the Royal North Shore Hospital.

The Spinal CNC Team.

History

Earlier in the 2000s the Spinal Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) Grade 3 role was one person fulfilling a local, LHD-wide, state-wide, national and international profile. One single individual who heroically valued her integrity and recognised the changing needs of her role, and of her increasing numbers of surviving clients, and the service she supported. Notwithstanding the fact it was becoming too much work for one person, the position remains 1 FTE to this day.

To relieve the Spinal CNC3 of around half the patient load the Spinal Plastics Co-Ordinator was born, also ranked CNC3 because of its state-wide scope. The Spinal CNC team then grew further to add a CNC1 Ward Discharge Planner. Many years later the business case was won for creating a Spinal Plastics CNS2 role to assist as the patient load was becoming excessive. It is now divided by outpatients and inpatients. A politically-motivated crackdown on full-time reduced-hours employees impacted on the Spinal CNC3 position which had been job-shared through child-rearing years and further education and research hours. For an attempt at the fabled work/life balance many senior nursing leadership positions are job shared. With a predominately female workforce the opportunity to share the burden is appreciated. The Spinal CNC3 role is currently shared 3:2.

The most recent team acquisition is a brand-newly-minted CNC2 position, created right during the Covid-19 pandemic, in conjunction with the Spinal CNC team, the Spinal Injuries Unit Nurse Unit Manager, their Divisional Nurse Manager, and the Director of Nursing. While the role is still developing in situ it is exciting to be involved in it's development and deployment.