Division of Health Sciences
My
Honours year expanded my understanding of the diverse health professions
that are being studied within UniSA. I had the opportunity of listening to
other Honours
projects that focused on areas including physiotherapy, pharmacy and radiography. Meeting students from diverse health backgrounds
and eventually becoming friends with them was fantastic – I still keep
in touch with them now and some have gone through to study their PhD
with me!
The teaching staff during my Honours year were very supportive and as my
Honours year was an external course I was comfortably able to
communicate my learning needs to the teaching staff over the Internet. My
responses were promptly answered, which for an Honours student is very
important as frustrations can quickly build up if not dealt with
quickly. Another important ‘add on’ was that teaching staff were
accessible and I got to know them as individuals who were genuinely
interested in making my Honours year a success.
My Honours project focused on nursing practice in relation to oral fluid
intake of older people with dementia. The knowledge and experience that
I gained and the industry relationships that were formed as a result of
my Honours year has enabled me to continue to focus on the provision of
nutritional care, food and fluids to older people as part of my PhD
program. My goal following my PhD studies is to work at UniSA.
My Honours year was definitely “not a cakewalk” and after a mountain of
hard work the highlights for me were achieving my goal of being able to
further my studies (with the help of my supervisor and my
referees), acceptance as a postgraduate student and to be awarded a
scholarship through the Department of Health.
