Last year, Calvary held an international recruitment expo in England and while visiting family in Spain Lomax secured a virtual interview. He’s glad he did.

“I’ve been here one month, but I’ve already got a place to live by the beach, my wife has a job, and I’m working in a really impressive hospital with all the bells and whistles and really nice people,” he said.

As a nurse practitioner, Lomax is able to work more independently than registered nurses and can make decisions without senior clinician input on patient matters like referring someone for an x-ray or other diagnostic tests, or ordering particular scripts or medication.

Lomax undertook further studies to become a nurse practitioner, but he always knew he was destined for the ED once he became a nurse.

“I spent some time in my training in wards but it was too boring for me once I got a taste for the ED.

“In the ED I felt like I was immediately making a difference to patients.”

When an ED has this nursing role within the team it can help to treat more patients more efficiently, reduce wait times, reduce ambulance ramping and assist patient flow into the hospital if patients need to be admitted.

“It’s a well-utilised model in the UK and it shortens wait times for those with minor illnesses and injuries, so we can get those types of patients in and out of the department quickly and allocate the time to those that need more attention,” he said.

Calvary Adelaide Hospital is currently developing the nurse practitioner model in its ED and Lomax is playing a key role in implementing this as a first for a private hospital ED in South Australia.

“It’s really exciting to be leading the way with hospital management to get this model in place here at Calvary Adelaide,” he said.

“This career opportunity at Calvary Adelaide is why I did the extra study. It’s really going to allow me to put my skills in practise to help patients as much as possible.”