NZONA Executive

Robin Harris, RN, BN.
Current Employment:
Registered Nurse Acute Orthopaedic Trauma Ward, Dunedin Hospital.
0.2 FTE Nurse Educator Acute Orthopaedic Trauma Ward.

I don’t usually share this information with too many people as it makes me sound really, really old so please read it fast!  I commenced my Dunedin Hospital training in 1968, graduating in 1971 and have always worked in Dunedin Hospital.

I worked in a variety of specialties including a two year stint in a Male Orthopaedic ward which was both acute and elective. As any orthopaedic nurse can imagine, it was a much more desirable ward to work in than it’s female equivalent with all the # NOFs,  a great number treated conservatively in traction or so it seemed. (The old “nightingale” type wards back then were single sex!)

While my family grew up I worked part-time, initially relieving anywhere and everywhere in Dunedin Hospital until I eventually fell into Orthopaedics simply because that is where there was a vacancy.

For 17 years I worked on night duty in both the acute and elective areas on the Orthopaedic Floor.

In 1999 I completed  a Bachelor of Nursing from Otago Polytechnic followed by the Dunedin Hospital Acute Care Course in 2001.

In 2002,  I took up the Nurse Educator position for Acute Orthopaedic Trauma whilst continuing to work as an RN in acute orthopaedics.

I joined NZONA whilst attending the 2007 ANZONA Conference in Rotorua and I am currently a Southern Region Representative for NZONA.