Huge congratulations to Head of the Department of Rural Health Sciences, Dr Yangama Jokwiro, who graduated his higher research degree today.
He was one of two doctoral graduates at the ceremony in Shepparton.
Dr Jokwiro’s thesis, which he carried out while working as a Coordinator of Nursing at the Shepparton campus, explored stress conscience among nurses caring for older people with delirium.
It was prompted by his experiences working within the emergency department.
The ceremony acknowledged the impact of the pandemic on many students, including Dr Jokwiro.
“Coronavirus also extended my PhD; therefore, I was unable to collect data in hospitals for two years,” he said.
“I was working full-time during my studies so there were many long hours.”
“However, my experience at La Trobe has been very, very good and I’ve received great support within the Rural Health School.”
Now working mainly from La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus, Dr Jokwiro trained as a nurse in Zimbabwe before moving to Australia in 2004 to continue work and study.
In 2018, he helped create an app to allow nurses to connect and upskill in Zimbabwe. Its use has since expanded to other southern African countries, including Botswana and Uganda.
Dr Jokwiro was among more than 70 graduands, many of them from the La Trobe Rural Health School, celebrating at a ceremony in front of La Trobe University Chancellor John Brumby and Dean of the Rural Health School Professor Jane Mills.
While the graduation marks the end of one phase of studies for Dr Jokwiro, he is already thinking about the next.
“I wish to extend my studies to develop interventions that can assist nurses during their training to understand the complexities and realities of the working environment alongside their desires to provide patient-centred care,” he said.
Read Dr Jokwiro’s thesis here.
