Staff profiles
Emily Whitehead
Ward 3A Clinical Nurse Manager
Emily works in Ward 3A – a 30-bed, fast-paced general surgical ward with bowel surgery and urology as a specialty.
Emily has been a nurse for almost 30 years – she started with us at Taranaki DHB in the late 90s. With several doctors in her family, Emily grew up around medical conversations. She wanted to a career that combined being useful and compassion, so nursing was ideal.
The best things about being a nurse for Emily are the variety of people she meets and having the chance to be a part of their lives at a very vulnerable time.
“Nursing gives you the opportunity to challenge your own expectations of yourself alongside the chance to truly make a difference every day.”
Training at WITT when it was Taranaki Polytechnic, Emily studied later as a distant student to convert her nursing diploma to a Batchelor of Nursing. She’s completed a Graduate Diploma in Arts (History) and is now doing a Post Graduate Diploma in Nursing.
Emily says that while her patients are important, her inspiration comes from the fantastic team she works in. “No matter what, they are upbeat, compassionate and supportive of each other.”
One of the most memorable experiences of her career was getting to use her skills outside the hospital on a trip to Italy. “Trying to communicate in a cardiac arrest situation is hard enough but when the crowd doesn’t speak English, that’s memorable. The patient sent me a beautiful card and flowers which was unexpected as he’d made the time to track me down.”