Meet the Filipino nurse who spearheaded an Orthopaedic department in Northern Beaches Hospital

Even before the global pandemic, many hospitals around the world have witnessed the tenacity and hard work of many Filipino nurses. In Australia, there is at least one Filipino nurse in most hospitals and patients have commended the quality of care Filipino nurses provide for them.

Jojo Sebastian was commissioned to start the Orthopaedics section of the Northern Beaches Hospital before it opened in November 2018. Source: Supplied

Since becoming a nurse in 2013, Jojo Sebastian took on a huge challenge in his career when he was commissioned to spearhead the Orthopaedic section of Peri-Operative department of Northern Beaches Hospital when it was built in late 2018.

"I only have empty shelves in front of me. With less than three months, I have to prepare everything. I need to ask and coordinate with 22 doctors and surgeons about their clinical preferences and their supply needs. From the smallest needle to instruments and beds, all should fit within the budget," says Jojo Sebastian.

 

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 Highlights

• From regular staff nurses to higher positions nursing unit managers, Filipinos have shown their dedication to the nursing industry.
• It takes a lot of hard work, resilience and adaptability to be able to provide the best quality of care for patients, says registered nurse Jojo Sebastian.
• Philippines is the second main source country of international nursing graduates for Australia with more than 1,000 Filipino degree-qualified nurses who migrated to Australia from 2001 to 2006, according to a study.

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Aside from working as a nurse, Jojo Sebastian has also worked as a lecturer in the Nursing department of one of the big universities in Sydney. Source: Supplied

Sydney-based Jojo Sebastian was teaching and was a Peri-Operative Nursing Subject Coordinator at one of the big universities in NSW when he was asked to do the commissioned work.

He took on the challenge believing he would be able to provide the necessary skills to spearhead operations in the Orthopaedic section of the Northern Beaches Hospital.

Inspired by one of his cousins who is a Philippine nursing board exam topnotcher, Mr Sebastian gives credit to the past nurses for the "respect that is given to Filipino nurses. I thank the past nurses who have paved way for new nurses to be respected and have set the good standard [of nursing]."

He furthers that "new nurses now want to follow suit the standards they [past nurses] have set. We would like to match it or even exceed it."

Sebastian, who was a former member of the U.S. Airforce prior to becoming a nurse in Australia, reiterates that "it is innate in the Filipino culture to be mapag-alaga (caring). We see this in the way we care for our families, our parents and the way we give importance to our elderly."

And for new cohorts of nurses, he shares to "always put our best foot forward and have the patients in the centre of the care" adding "communication, good time management, ability to multi-task and prioritise, adaptability and being resilient" will take every nurses a long way.