Sarah Rossiter

Sarah Rossiter graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing Science.

Postgraduate Diploma of Nursing Science (Nurse Prescribing Practicum)

After completing her nursing training at Waikato Polytechnic in the late eighties, Sarah lived and worked in Lower Hutt for most of her adult life. She was looking to pursue some postgraduate studies and the School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Practice was recommended to her.

She describes her postgraduate experience as all consuming.

"I had not studied since I graduated in 1989, so returning to tertiary study while working and parenting four children was quite a daunting prospect!"

The support of lecturers, students, and colleagues, as well as keeping her goals manageable helped her complete her qualification.

"Gaining new knowledge and learning new skills to add to my practice was wonderful, the workload was heavy but I focused on one paper per year and I found that worked for me."

Sarah says there were some steep learning curves, but every paper added to her practice, particularly a course in the principles of research.

"My previous study had been undertaken pre-computers, so I had a lot to learn about searching for and critically appraising research articles, synthesising information and writing assignments.

"The research paper was the springboard that equipped me with the skills to study confidently and changed my approach to searching for information which had a huge impact on my work."

Sarah is still nursing and is now a designated prescriber and Cardiac Clinical Nurse Specialist. She also guest lectures on the School's  HLTH 517: Diagnostics and Therapeutics course.

And she is still passionate about nursing.

"Working alongside people and their loved ones to enhance their health journey is the most amazing privilege."