Goldfields-based RFDS nurse broadens horizons through training program

A passion for providing health care to the most remote corners of WA is what keeps Dan Moore returning to the skies with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Mr Moore has been a part of RFDS’ WA team since 2008 as a retrieval nurse and resides in Kalgoorlie-Boulder with his wife and their seven children. After he gained a mixture of metropolitan and regional experience at RFDS’s Jandakot and Port Hedland bases, Mr Moore relocated his family to the Goldfields capital 11 years ago and has not looked back. Now he’s ready to take the next step in his career. He recently completed 18 months training through Edith Cowan University, with support from RFDS, to become a qualified nurse practitioner. Mr Moore is currently the only nurse practitioner in the RFDS. He said the qualification provides an opportunity for nurses to further develop their skills and allow them to diagnose illness and prescribe medication. Mr Moore said his vision was for RFDS to integrate the nurse practitioner role into its clinical model to further benefit patients. “We’ve got excellent nurses in the RFDS in terms of their skills, experience and abilities, but what this nurse practitioner program does is it gets a fairly high-functioning nurse and adds a few extra skills,” he said. “You develop your pharmacology knowledge, which you already have as a nurse, so you’re just improving on it. “The course also focuses on patient assessment, how to examine and diagnose (an illness). “Nurses don’t typically diagnose but (the course) gives you the ability to start thinking about diagnostic tools. “If you’re in the back of a plane with an unstable patient who’s deteriorating at three o’clock in the morning, you can never have people who are too skilled to manage that.” On an average day, Mr Moore travels to the northern Goldfields as far as Wiluna, or head east to the Eucla boarder, while also servicing Aboriginal communities and remote mining operations. Mr Moore said he enjoyed the challenge of providing health care in regional and remote communities. “The clinical exposure here is excellent, the sort of patients we encounter is diverse and often challenging,” he said. “It’s fairly confined (in the aircraft) and you’re either working by yourself or you’re partnered up with a colleague and other nurse or a doctor. “The challenging (nature of RFDS) is the most enjoyable part professionally, it’s all about being experienced and being prepared for any sort of clinical scenario.” RFDS said 1474 patients were retrieved by the RFDS in the Goldfields region in 2023, a 7.5 per cent increase on 2022. The organisation said injury and poisoning were the most common reason for retrievals, followed by circulatory system problems. During his training, Mr Moore completed clinical placements at Alpha Medical Centre and Kalgoorlie Health Campus’ emergency department. He was mentored by Scott Jones, a nursing practitioner at Kalgoorlie Health Campus’ emergency department. Mr Moore thanked the range of local medical professionals, RFDS colleagues and family members who supported him through the course. “Colleagues gave up their time and sat through presentations I had to give or assessed me on clinical skills,” he said. “My family accepted that for the 18 months I was studying, I was never home on time.” Mr Moore said Kalgoorlie-Boulder had been a great community to raise his seven children, aged between five and 16. “We’ve got seven kids spread across three schools in town and it has been terrific for us,” he said. “The experience of raising a family here and the friendships and relationships you get in the community, it’s been great.”