An exclusive interview: the Aussie nurse on a mission to prevent burnout

I've been a nurse for the last 12 years, in and out of different sections, environments, workplaces, and whatnot, but my passion and background has been emergency and critical care and that's where I based most of my career. At the moment, I’m a nurse educator on a medical ward, though, which is great stuff. I'm based up in the northern part of Australia in a hospital that has 300 beds, and we see a mixture of different things.

I got into nursing because my grandmother said to me, ‘well, you like all these different elements,’ and that's why I started into nursing. I wanted to travel, I liked biology and human anatomy. I did like helping people and I like supporting people through difficult times. I think my grandmother was very wise; she said, ‘what about nursing?’ Because I had all these questions in my head, and I thought, ‘I never thought of myself as a male nurse,’ but I jumped in, and it's been a great career.

I guess it's a little bit of a journey. I've always enjoyed critical care and thinking outside the box on how we can do our best work for the sickest people. So, it has been a passion of mine in my career, since I was a student, and I actively worked when I was just out of university to progress towards intensive care. I moved into intensive care after my graduate program, and it was quite challenging, but there were certain aspects I really liked and certain aspects that I didn't like, but I do really enjoy feeling empowered and feeling like I've got some say or I've got some input into the game and that autonomy, that empowerment to make a real difference with your skills.

Athol Hann has worked as a nurse for over 12 years in several environments, but his passion is in emergency and intensive care. Right now, he’s a nurse educator on a medical ward in a 300-bed hospital in Northern Australia. After a difficult experience with burnout that caused him to leave the field for a few years to be a dairy farmer, Hann got into entrepreneurship hoping to support other nurses through burnout. He founded Fwards in 2018 - an app soon-to-be-available in the States - to create sustainable behaviour change within the healthcare industry, and provide on the ground support and resources to health professionals to drive positive engagement.

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