International Nurses Day recognises the extraordinary contribution of nurses across our health system. At NSW Health Pathology, nurses like Joanne, Lorna, Dany and Angelie play a vital role in delivering safe, high-quality, patient-centred care every day.

On 12 May, we cel­e­brate Inter­na­tion­al Nurs­es Day—an oppor­tu­ni­ty to recog­nise the com­pas­sion, pro­fes­sion­al­ism and ded­i­ca­tion of nurs­es across the pub­lic health system.

Mark­ing the birth­day of Flo­rence Nightin­gale, the founder of mod­ern nurs­ing, this day hon­ours a work­force that forms the back­bone of healthcare.

As the largest pro­fes­sion­al group with­in NSW Health, nurs­es are there at every stage of the patient journey—supporting, advo­cat­ing and deliv­er­ing care when it mat­ters most.

Here at NSW Health Pathol­o­gy, our nurs­es play a unique and essen­tial role. From spe­cial­ist col­lec­tions to edu­ca­tion and train­ing, they are crit­i­cal to ensur­ing accu­rate diag­nos­tic results and pos­i­tive patient experiences.

Lorna Cockrell – Nurse Educator and PoCT Clinical Training Coordinator

With a back­ground in emer­gency, remote and region­al nurs­ing, Lor­na brings a wealth of expe­ri­ence to her statewide role in edu­ca­tion and train­ing for our Point of Care Test­ing (PoCT) devices.

Orig­i­nal­ly aspir­ing to tour the world in a punk rock band, Lor­na describes nurs­ing as a “hap­py acci­dent” that became a true pas­sion. Work­ing for more than 14 years in NSW Health, she has found her niche in edu­ca­tion, help­ing clin­i­cians improve the way blood gas sam­ples are col­lect­ed and handled.

“By improv­ing knowl­edge and prac­tices, we improve the reli­a­bil­i­ty of results. That sup­ports safe treat­ment, bet­ter patient out­comes and pos­i­tive patient expe­ri­ences,” Lor­na said.

Lor­na is based in New­cas­tle but deliv­ers train­ing across NSW, work­ing with nurs­es, junior doc­tors, uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents and pathol­o­gy staff to strength­en pre-ana­lyt­i­cal practices.

Joanne Aruelo – Registered Nurse and Pathology Collection Trainer/Assessor, Western Sydney

Joanne’s jour­ney into nurs­ing began in edu­ca­tion, sup­port­ing chil­dren with spe­cial needs. That foun­da­tion con­tin­ues to shape her com­pas­sion­ate, patient-cen­tred approach.

Now work­ing across West­mead, Black­town, Auburn and Mt Druitt Hos­pi­tal col­lec­tion cen­tres, Joanne trains and assess­es staff in spec­i­men col­lec­tion to ensure best prac­tice and patient safety.

“High-qual­i­ty spec­i­men col­lec­tion is essen­tial for reli­able diag­nos­tic results,” she explains.

“By ensur­ing staff are con­fi­dent and com­pe­tent, we direct­ly sup­port bet­ter clin­i­cal deci­sions and patient care.”

Dany Sam – Registered Nurse and Second in Charge, Collections, Westmead Hospital

Dany was drawn to nurs­ing for its hands-on nature and direct impact on patient care. In pathol­o­gy, she found the per­fect bal­ance of tech­ni­cal pre­ci­sion and patient interaction.

Over five years with NSW Health Pathol­o­gy, Dany has pro­gressed into a lead­er­ship role, sup­port­ing both qual­i­ty and team development.

“Every accu­rate result starts with a qual­i­ty spec­i­men,” she said.

“By main­tain­ing strict pro­to­cols and sup­port­ing our staff, we reduce errors and ensure patients receive time­ly, accu­rate results.”

Through men­tor­ing and con­tin­u­ous improve­ment, Dany helps build a con­fi­dent, high-per­form­ing team who are there to reas­sure and care for peo­ple and put them at ease dur­ing their pathol­o­gy collection.

Angelie Bacani – Registered Nurse, Pathology Collections at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

Angelie’s path into nurs­ing was influ­enced by her moth­er, who is also a nurse. Angelie stud­ied pathol­o­gy in the Philip­pines where she devel­oped a pas­sion for the tech­ni­cal and patient-focused aspects of healthcare.

Now spe­cial­is­ing in haema­tol­ogy col­lec­tions and vene­sec­tion, she com­bines pre­ci­sion with a strong focus on patient comfort.

“I focus on get­ting the col­lec­tion right the first time, as that reduces dis­com­fort and builds trust with patients.”

Angelie is known for her abil­i­ty to put patients at ease, often using con­ver­sa­tion, empa­thy and per­son­al con­nec­tion to cre­ate a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence, even for those who may feel anx­ious or unwell.

Recognising the difference nurses make

Whether they are col­lect­ing sam­ples, train­ing and edu­cat­ing staff, lead­ing teams or sup­port­ing patients through vul­ner­a­ble moments, the nurs­es work­ing in our ser­vices make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence every day.

Their work under­pins accu­rate diag­no­sis, informs treat­ment deci­sions and ensures patients feel cared for through­out their health­care journey.

This Inter­na­tion­al Nurs­es Day, we thank all our nurs­es for their unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment and the vital role they play in deliv­er­ing trust­ed, high-qual­i­ty care.

Hap­py Inter­na­tion­al Nurs­es Day!

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