A counter offer arrives at the worst possible moment. You have already made the decision, already had the difficult conversation, and then your manager asks for a day to see what they can do. This is one of the most common things theatre nurses ring me about, and it is worth thinking through calmly rather than in the corridor between cases. I am not going to tell you never to accept one. Sometimes a counter offer is the right answer. But it deserves the same scrutiny you woul

The anaesthetic nurse role is one of the clearest specialist routes in perioperative nursing, and one of the least well explained. Most theatre nurses first meet it from the other side of the drape, as the person who has already settled the patient by the time the scrub team is gowned. This bulletin sets out what the anaesthetic nurse role actually involves, what hospitals across Australia and New Zealand ask for, and how scrub scout nurses move across. What the role covers A

Scrub scout nursing is often written about as one job. In practice the specialty you work in shapes your day more than almost anything else on the position description. The same title can mean forty short cases in an ophthalmology list or two long ones in general surgery, and the skills that make you good at one are not automatically the skills that make you good at the other. This bulletin looks at what different scrub scout nurse lists actually ask of you, and how to use th

Alice Ross-King was a theatre sister before she was anything else. By 1914 she was in charge of a private hospital in Melbourne, having trained at the Alfred Hospital and worked as a ward sister, night superintendent and acting matron. Four years later she was one of the first Australian nurses to be awarded the Military Medal, for what she did in a canvas ward that had just been bombed. Every fact below is drawn from her service record, her diaries and the official record. B

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

A state-by-state look at the genuinely live perioperative vacancies across Australia and New Zealand, from anaesthetic nursing to cardiac electrophysiology, cath lab and scrub and scout roles.

A closer look at the perioperative nurse educator role in private hospital theatres, what it actually involves day to day, and who it tends to suit.

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.

Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole surviving nurse of the Bangka Island Massacre. This is her verified story, from Singapore in 1941 to a lifetime of nursing leadership.

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

Clinical ability matters, but communication, adaptability, professional judgement and a willingness to keep learning can shape a stronger perioperative career.

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

There are plenty of perioperative vacancies. The challenge is that there are not enough experienced theatre professionals to fill them.

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

Salary, location and career progression matter, but respect, support and leadership are what make theatre professionals stay.

Florence Nightingale transformed nursing through sanitation, education, evidence and patient advocacy.

Experienced perioperative professionals remain in demand across Australia and New Zealand. Here is what Carejobz is seeing in the market and what candidates are prioritising.

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