The Three Things That Separate a Good Theatre from a Great One

What to look for before you accept a role

Most nurses evaluate a new role on salary, location, and roster. Those are the obvious levers and they matter. But the thing that determines whether a role is genuinely good or quietly miserable over the long term tends to come down to three factors that rarely appear in a job ad.

Here's what I've seen consistently separate the theatres nurses stay in and grow from the ones they leave within eighteen months.

1. The NUM is a genuine leader, not just an administrator

The quality of theatre life in a private hospital is determined more by the NUM than by almost any other factor. A strong NUM sets the tone, manages conflict fairly, runs an efficient roster, advocates for the team, and creates an environment where good nurses want to stay.

A weak or absent NUM creates the opposite: a team that manages itself unevenly, conflict that festers, nurses who leave, and a constant cycle of short-staffing and pressure.

Before you accept a role, find out as much as you can about the NUM. How long have they been there? What do people who have worked there say about them? Ask about them directly in your interview. The answers you get, and the way you get them, will tell you a lot.

2. The case mix is growing or at least stable

A theatre that is adding new surgical lists, expanding into new specialties, or bringing on new surgeons is an environment where you can continue to develop. A theatre that is contracting, losing surgeons, or running the same lists on a reduced schedule is one where your opportunities to grow are limited and where there may be structural problems that don't resolve quickly.

Ask what's happened to case volume over the last two years. Ask whether there are new lists coming. If the answers are vague, that's a signal.

3. The team has been stable

High turnover in a theatre team is a red flag. It's not definitive proof of a problem, nurses move for all kinds of reasons, but consistent turnover over a period of years usually points to something systemic: poor leadership, roster issues, understaffing, or culture.

Ask in your interview how long the core team members have been there. Ask whether there have been recent departures and why. Most hiring managers will give you a reasonable answer if you ask directly. An evasive answer is itself useful information.

The broader point

The factors that make a theatre genuinely good to work in are rarely visible from the outside. They require some research, some direct questions, and sometimes access to people who have worked there.

That's one of the things I can actually help with. After years of working with nurses and hospitals across Australia and New Zealand, I have a reasonably clear picture of where the strong environments are. Happy to share that if you're considering a move.

Paul Wheeler

Director, Carejobz and The Human Edge Group

Paul Wheeler has worked in specialist healthcare recruitment since 2003, with deep experience in executive search and clinical leadership placement across Australia and New Zealand. He works exclusively within the private hospital and surgical sector, helping hospital operators find and retain experienced perioperative and nursing leadership professionals. Paul is based in Brisbane and works with private hospitals across Australia & New Zealand

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