Being named a winner at the 2021 Queensland Nursing Midwifery Union Practice Awards is extra special for Ella Van-de Velde Fidock because it was voted on by her peers and community.
Ella was recently named the People¡¯s Choice Award winner and a finalist in the Positive Practice Environment Champion category.
¡°Knowing that my peers and our community voted for me is something that will stay with me as an incredible gift,¡± she said.
¡°But it also means that I feel even more of a responsibility to show up wholeheartedly each day and give my all to our community, my colleagues and the development of our profession. It¡¯s a challenge I¡¯m so ready to take on.¡±
Ella is a Registered Nurse at the Gold Coast University Hospital¡¯s Emergency Department, where she has been responsible for spearheading an initiative called Building our Culture.
The initiative began with data collection, asking 370 nursing staff to self-determine their goals for organisational culture. Ella and her colleagues have designed programs that meet goals of improving five elements of culture: people and recognition, vision, key values, communication and team fun.
¡°I felt really honoured to be nominated in the first place, I had no expectations of getting any further than that,¡± she said.
¡°Meeting some of the other finalist really demonstrated what an honour it was as they were all so incredible and heave each achieved such brilliant things in their fields.
¡°I felt humbled, grateful and proud that building our ED culture is worth recognition. I cried when I heard my name. Being a nurse is something I do because I love improving the lives of our patients and supporting my colleagues in their workplace. I didn¡¯t ever expect to be recognised for that.¡±
Ella says there¡¯s a new challenge every day in the ED but her next challenge is to finish her Masters of Nurse Practitioner.
¡°I¡¯m so excited to serve our community further, hopefully as a new nurse practitioner in late 2022,¡± she said.