Choosing your referees is usually the last thing a theatre nurse thinks about and one of the first things an employer acts on. Most people give it about ninety seconds, name whoever they reported to most recently, and move on. Then a reference comes back flat, or late, or from someone who genuinely could not remember which lists they scrubbed on, and a strong application quietly loses its momentum. It is worth more than ninety seconds. Here is how I would go about it. A refer

Why measuring your theatre career against a colleague's timeline rarely gives you an honest picture, and what to pay attention to instead.

Loyalty to a hospital is a good instinct when it is returned. Here is how to tell when it has become the only reason you are still there.

Being dependable is a strength, but perioperative professionals should not have to carry every extra shift, difficult list or staffing gap alone.

Technical skills matter, but trust, support and psychological safety are what make exceptional theatre teams work.

Why the simple question ‘Tell me about yourself’ catches experienced perioperative candidates out, and how to answer it naturally.

A five-minute coffee break for perioperative professionals across Australia and New Zealand. This Week's Coffee Break... Perioperative nurse wellbeing is something I've become increasingly passionate about after more than twenty years working alongside theatre professionals across Australia and New Zealand. Over the years, I've come to realise that people rarely call me when everything is going well. They call because they're excited about a new opportunity. They call because

Those were the first words she said to me.I smiled and replied, "Why do you think that?" There was a pause. "I've looked at the job three times, but there'll be people far better than me." She'd been a perioperative nurse for years.She had excellent experience. Her references were glowing. She was respected by her colleagues. Yet none of that was how she saw herself. Instead, she focused on everything she wasn't. She hadn't worked in one particular speciality. She hadn't been