After completing her graduate nursing year in renal and orthopaedics, Karen quickly realised the specialisation was not the right pathway for her. Undeterred, she went to the emergency department of Flinders Medical Centre and asked the nurse manager if she would employ her.

“As they say: the rest is history,” Karen recounts. “I fell in love with emergency nursing. It is dynamic, fast-paced, and you need to be able to manage a wide variety of presenting complaints. I enjoyed the teamwork and collaboration between doctors and nurses that I hadn’t previously experienced during ward nursing.”

Karen believed she had found her calling – until 9/11 happened and she began questioning what she would do if a disaster occurred in South Australia and the role of nurses in disaster response. 

“As an emergency nurse, I felt underprepared for disaster response. My employers had never provided disaster training and I didn’t even know what a disaster plan was. I wanted to understand if my colleagues felt the same way.” 

Pursuing research pathways

After an initial research study and publication on the topic, Karen presented her findings at a conference, where a chance meeting with her future Ph.D. supervisor encouraged her to further pursue research with an Honours degree at Flinders University. Karen’s Honours thesis focused on disaster education and training of South Australian nurses, which she expanded into a Ph.D. regarding the experiences of emergency nurses in disaster response.

“Making the transition from hospital to academia was a difficult decision for me,” Karen reflects. “From a career perspective, all I knew for 12 years was nursing, but moving to academia gave me room to pursue my research interests.” 

Since completing her degrees, Karen has published articles and presented her findings at international conferences to share valuable information about assessing hospital readiness and preparing for disaster and the need for disaster education and training programs for nurses. Similarly, she’s used this knowledge to inform her work as a nurse in private and public emergency departments, and later as an academic at Flinders, where she was responsible for the development and coordination of a multidisciplinary Masters degree in disaster health care and the postgraduate emergency nursing program.

The next step in the journey

After spending several years as an Associate Director at the Flinders University Torrens Resilience Initiative, a research organisation dedicated to disaster preparedness and management, Karen decided to take on consultancy work with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

 “Despite the difficulty I had with both transitions, they were some of the best career decisions I have made. I have enjoyed the opportunities and the work that I have been able to do after taking a leap of faith to leave my comfort zone.”

Since September 2020, Karen has worked for the WHO as a clinical management lead in the COVID-19 response, having the opportunity to work in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu. In these roles, Karen has provided technical support to the Ministries of Health regarding COVID-19 and Monkeypox in clinical management, infection prevention control, and care pathways. She has helped develop guidelines and standard operating procedures, delivered online and face-to-face training for health workers, hosted online forums for sharing experiences, and developed electronic dashboards to aid in the tracking and managing of COVID-19 cases.

“I hope my work made health workers feel more empowered to provide clinical care to people affected by COVID-19 or Monkeypox,” Karen says. “Strengthening existing processes can only lead to improved patient outcomes.” 

Leadership inspired by passion

Karen notes that she has taken leadership roles out of passion for the work, rather than through a desire to lead people. “When I took these roles, it was because I wanted to strengthen health systems and put a spotlight on emergency care issues. In academia, it was because I had an interest in building the skill and expertise in the health workforce to manage emergencies and disasters.”

Karen believes the most memorable achievements of her career are her Ph.D. and working for the WHO.  “As a young child, I remember learning about the United Nations (UN) through my grandfather,” Karen recalls. “I hoped that one day, I could be part of what I believed to be a great cause: bringing together different countries and people for common goals. I always loved to travel and part of the reason I completed a nursing degree is because I wanted to help people. Through my work at the WHO, I’ve been able to achieve my dreams: working for the UN, travelling to different countries, and helping people.” 

Flinders graduate and nursing leader Karen Hammad says taking on leadership roles was inspired by her passion for the work.