Top marks Nationally for CPUT Nursing Graduate
BEST: Karla Whiley with two of her lecturers Margot Pretorius and Natalie CopelingReturning to the classroom as part of her retirement plan worked out in a big way for a CPUT graduate.
Karla Whiley scored the highest marks in an Occupational Health Nursing degree nationally and was awarded the Ian Webster silver medal by the South African Society of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners (SASOHN).
Whiley is the Regional Wellness Manager at Eskom and studied part-time, attending classes at night for the first year while nursing a broken left ankle and broken right foot.
While retirement is not an immediate concern for Whiley she says branching out into consultation or freelancing as an Occupational Health specialist later would require a BTech and she finally bit the bullet and enrolled.
“Occupational Health is a misunderstood and very niche area of nursing. I wanted to expand my career opportunities by studying and I’m not sorry that I did,” she says.
“The number of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners registered with the South African Nursing Council represents approximately 2% of the total registered population so it is a very under-represented niche.”
Whiley credits her lecturers for going the extra mile during the difficult past few years for her success.
“There were times we had classes at our lecturers home just to get through the curriculum. That shows the amount of dedication from their side,” she says.
Learn more about occupational health here.