The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) is delighted to announce Ben Jenkins MACN as the inaugural host of The ACN Podcast. Across 2020 Year of the Nurse & Midwife he will be interviewing a range of expert nurse leaders on topics including leadership; military nursing; politics; innovative technologies and much more.
Ben is a driven and motivated registered nurse who currently works as a Nursing Officer in the Australian Army. Prior to this, he worked in the Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital.
We recently caught up with Ben to talk about his journey into the nursing profession, leadership experience and his background in podcasting.
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Discovering the opportunities a nursing career offers
Ben’s journey into the nursing profession began short in Albany, a beautiful coastal town on the South Coast of Western Australia, where he was working as a tennis coach. Initially drawn towards studying paramedicine, he started to volunteer at his local ambulance unit after work. The members of the unit were the first to highlight the many opportunities and benefits a career in nursing offered.
“I learned that quite a few of the highly-trained and experienced paramedics all started their careers in nursing. They were all so passionate about the amazing benefits and groundings starting their careers in nursing provided them,” he said.
Ben was then successful in securing a position to study a Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Emergency Health (Paramedic) from Monash University.
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The emergence of a nursing leader
Ben’s leadership talent and passion for the nursing profession flourished during his time as an undergraduate student. Highlights from his impressive resume of extra-curricular achievements include:
- Selection in Monash University’s prestigious Vice Chancellor’s Ancora Imparo Student Leadership Program.
- Attendance at the National Student Leadership Forum in Canberra where he had the opportunity to network with other young leaders and hear from high-profile politicians including the then Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull
- Mentored high school students
- Represented Monash University twice in national student paramedic competitions
- Founder of Near Peer Teaching — a program inviting third and fourth year nursing students to volunteer to participate in facilitating the first year Clinical Learning Environment sessions.
It was the involvement in the Near Peer Teaching program that solidified Ben’s desire to pursue a career in nursing.
“The Program made me realize the true extent of opportunities in the nursing profession. I felt I could genuinely make a difference by choosing it as a career path,” he said.
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New Grad Radio Podcast — a valuable resource for graduate nurses and beyond!
Ben continued to expand his extra-curricular activities after graduating university. In 2018 — whilst undertaking his graduate program at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane — he established the New Grad Radio Podcast aimed at documenting in real-time his experience entering the nursing profession.
“The {New Grad Radio} podcast was an update of what I was feeling and thinking at the time. What it was like to work your first night shift; how to figure out a work-life balance with irregular sleeping patterns,” he said.
The podcast was popularly received by nurses of all levels of experience across the country.
“I soon found out it was not only nurses sharing a similar experience in their graduate program who found the podcast was a useful resource,” he said.
“I had positive feedback from students who said it provided them an insight into what to expect when they entered the profession. Nurses in senior positions also said it provided them valuable insight into what their junior nurses were experiencing in their early days in the profession.”
“People I’d never spoken to in real life were coming up to me, saying they knew all about me and my journey from the podcast. It was really great to see that it was spreading so widely.”
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The ACN Podcast with Ben Jenkins MACN
Ben is delighted to start a new journey as the inaugural host of The ACN Podcast during 2020 Year of the Nurse & Midwife. Each fortnight he will release a new interview with a nursing leader who is an expert in their selected field. ACN is excited to draw from Ben’s nursing expertise, podcast experience and sense of humour as he hosts the ACN Podcast during 2020 Year of the Nurse & Midwife.
