After a rollercoaster year of competitive surfing and completing an intense nursing degree, Brie Bennett opens up about her recent victory at the CS Classic, the rewards and strains of nursing training, and the difficult job market for new graduates.
With nationals around the corner and career plans uncertain, Brie reflects on how surfing has kept her grounded through it all.
Tell us about your recent comp success and your surfing experience during 2024.
The 2024 competitive season didn’t go as well as I was hoping, for there were a lot of critical errors I made and the surf conditions weren’t favourable. However my highlights were making the open women’s final at nationals in January and winning my last competition of the year, the CS Classic held here at Manu Bay.
You have just completed your nursing training. Can you describe what was involved ?
In a bachelor of nursing degree there is a minimum of 1100 unpaid clinical placement hours required to pass; this typically is over around 8 placement areas over the course of three years. The shifts during your last placement block of 11 weeks are a mixture of morning, evening and night shifts, weekdays and weekends. During this you are required to continue to submit assignments; however, your assignment load is decreased during placement.
Why did you decide to be a nurse?
I decided to study nursing because I have always been passionate about helping others and making a difference in people’s lives. Nursing appealed to me as it combines my desire to care for people with the opportunity to work in a hands-on environment.
Have you been able to keep surfing throughout your training? Has surfing helped you in any way with your career pathway?
My surfing and training definitely dropped off this year as it became my second priority to study. However, once I figured out how important balance was, and dedicated time into what made me feel good (surfing and training) then it seemed like the puzzle came together. Surfing was also really good in the way it would help take the stress off me during placement and exams. Training at The Refinery also helped immensely as Johnny was motivated and found time to train me even during my forever changing busy schedule.
What area of nursing do you want to be involved in ?
My ideal place to work in is areas like the Emergency Department or the Intensive Critical Care Unit (ICU) as I love dealing with complexities under a busy environment. I also think it would be very rewarding to help patients who are critically ill improve in health outcomes.
What are your current thoughts on the lack of support for nurses during their clinical placements and the lack of jobs for graduates?
I think that student nurses should be getting paid on placement. They are working 5 day weeks and it’s advised to not work alongside placement as it’s considered a full time job, so I don’t know how they expect students to get by whilst on placement, especially if they are living out of home. Not only this but during your final year you are practically looking after between 4-8 patients independently with minimal help from your registered nurse in charge of you.
The latest news on the job freeze in all of the hospitals came as a shock to all students my year in our final year of nursing as we started to apply for jobs. This is because we know firsthand how high demand nurses are; patient to nurse ratios are sometimes dangerous putting health consumers at risk due to the shortages. The typical waiting time in the emergency department in Waikato that I noticed whilst being on placement was between 8-36hrs, which was the longest. From a student nurse point of view the nurses were so busy in most areas where they could barely even find the time to teach you.
You have the nationals in Jan and then what does 2025 look like for you in terms of nursing and surfing?
Over the next few months, I’m aiming to pass my final nursing exam and train hard for the upcoming competitive surfing season, hoping to perform well and achieve my goals. Next year, with limited job opportunities for newly graduated nurses, a position isn’t guaranteed. If I’m unable to secure one, I plan to move abroad to Australia after the surfing season, where there are more job opportunities and government support for nurses.
