Volume 44 Number 2

It is with much sadness that we remember Pam Morey who passed away on 25 April 2024. Many of Pam’s friends and colleagues have expressed their grief and began their reflections with the phrase “She was such a Good Nurse”.

A Good Nurse is a common phrase usually used by patients who identify the elements in a nurse that means much to them on their road to recovery or rehabilitation. But what is it to be a Good Nurse? It was a term frequently used by Miss Florence Nightingale. In fact, she penned it 10 times in a letter she addressed to the nurses and probationers at St Thomas Hospital on 6 May 1881, and this same letter she sent to Sr Alexandra and nurses at the new Hobart Hospital on 6 May 1884. It was rather ionic that at Pam’s memorial service on
9 May, 143 years later, that colleagues who had gathered referred to Pam in the same context.

In her letter of 1881, Miss Nightingale wrote, “Let us seek all of us rather to be good rather than clever nurses”. There is a copy of this letter framed on the walls of the Turkish Military Barracks in Istanbul. Scutari (now Uskudar) was part of Istanbul during the Crimean War and could be said to be the birthplace of modern nursing. Today it is known as Selimiye Barracks and in 1996, when I first visited Selimiye Barracks and read this letter, I remember thinking, “well Miss Nightingale, perhaps on this we will disagree, for I think it a priority that nurses should be clever”. However, not long after that when analysing interviews of pioneer stomal therapy nurses and colorectal surgeons and patients of that era for my PhD research, I was drawn back to this letter for again the concept of Miss Nightingale’s Good Nurses was embedded in those interviews. That set me on a journey of discovery to explore the concept of good and its relevance to nurses and nursing.

The word ‘good’ has its genesis in Plato’s philosophy of moral good and the concept has three interpretations in the Greek language:

Agathos which means ‘good’ in a broad sense but can also describe a person’s character in regards to their ethical virtue.

Kalos which means ‘good’, beautiful and noble.

Chrestos which refers to ‘good’ in regards to being useful and kind.

However, the concepts of what Miss Nightingale ascribed to a ‘good’ nurse in her many writings can be interpreted and summarised as a Good Nurse is one who:

Seeks to care that is they are able to make a difference and Pam made such a difference in the lives of those she cared for and those she worked with. Her accomplishments were many and duly recognised by several prestigious awards, the epitome of which was:

• 2003 Nurses Board of Western Australia Inaugural ‘Nurse of the Year’, and ‘Nursing Excellence Award for Metropolitan Acute Care Nurse’ of the year.

• 2010 Life Membership of Western Australian (WA) Wound Care Association (now known as Wounds Australia WA Branch).

• 2012 Fellow of the Australian Wound Management Association.

• 2000 Nominee for the Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital ‘Nurse of the Year.’

• 2019 Nominee for the Silver Chain Best Care Award.

Good Nurses are committed to finding a better way to care and Pam constantly sought evidence for best practice. She championed the translation of research into practice. This was especially the situation when she worked as the Research Officer and Nurse Practitioner Programme with the WoundsWest Project, where she was particularly instrumental in Rural and Remote Wound Education projects. This research led her to undertaking PhD studies, which unfortunately she had to abandon several years into her research as she invested all her energies into fighting her diagnosis. She was an exceptional clinical nurse educator, who always managed to make the complex simple for novice learners. Pam was a much-valued preceptor and mentor. She pioneered the Wound Clinical Nurse Consultant role in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) in Western Australia and went on to become the first nurse practitioner (NP) within the wound domain at that hospital. A role she most admirably filled within community nursing at Silver Chain from 2016 until late 2023. Furthermore, she advanced the role of NPs as a lecturer in the Curtin University Master of Nurse Practitioner Program. During this time, she was instrumental in the re-accreditation of the course by Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council, which was a major accomplishment.

A Good Nurse seeks knowledge and Pam did this with much dedication. Following her registration as a nurse in 1981 she added several postgraduate degrees to her resume. Furthermore, she willingly shared her knowledge in the clinical setting, via publications and the many presentations she gave at state and national conferences.

A Good Nurse professes thoroughness which could be interpreted as caring for the whole patient and the whole team. Pam was indeed a team player. She was a nurse leader and the first to offer assistance and support, but never one to boast of her achievements and attributes.

A Good Nurse Is professionally valued and adds to the value of the profession. This Pam did exceedingly well on a state and national level. She was a Wounds Australia Board Director from 2019 to March 2024 and furthermore contributed to the business of the organisation through the following committees and roles.

• Finance, Audit and Risk Committee
• Member Research Committee
• Board liaison to the Australian Health Research Alliance and WA Health Translation Network for the development of the Australian Standards for Wound Prevention and Management (2023)
• Wounds Australia representative for the World Union of Wound Healing Societies 2026 conference bid
• Representative to the Coalition of National Nursing Organisations
• Sub-Committee Aseptic Technique, 2013 – 2020 and a contributor to Consensus Document: Application of Aseptic Technique in Wound Dressing Procedure (2017, 2018, 2020)
• Past Editorial Board Member for Wound Practice and Research, the Australian Journal of Wound Management
• Australian Wound Management Association (AWMA) Restructure Committee 2011 – 2013
• Pan Pacific Pressure Alliance Guideline Committee for the 2011 guideline
• AWMA Treasurer, 2008 to 2012.

Prior to that Pam was a Foundation Member of the Burns and Plastic Surgical Nurses Association of Western Australia (1990 to 1995) where she filled roles as President and Secretary. In 1995, Pam was instrumental in organising the merging of this group with the relatively newly formed West Australian Wound Care Association (WAWCA, 1990), which later became amalgamated as the Australian Wound Management Association. In WAWCA she held positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer and Education Officer 1997 to 2012.

What is it to be a ‘Good Nurse’ we can ask?

Pam surely epitomised the professional attributes, contributions and personal characteristics that exemplified, what it is to be a Good Nurse. She will be greatly missed and always remembered by those who had the privilege to work with her and call her friend.

Author(s)

Keryln Carville
RN PhD FWA
Perth, Australia