Tasmanian nurse leader Pip Rice is blazing trails in both her civilian and military careers.

A registered nurse of 16 years, mostly with the Royal Hobart Hospital, Pip is a grade six clinical nurse educator for the day procedure unit and peri-operative services three days a week, she also works casual and on-call for the Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine Unit and holds a clinical lecturer title with the University of Tasmania.

If that wasn’t enough, Pip was also this year promoted to Captain and serves with the newly formed 13 Platoon of the 3^rd Health Support Battalion in the Australian Army Reserves, based at the Derwent Barracks.

“I love the variety of working predominantly with illness in my civilian career, and injury and health prevention in my military career,” Pip said.

“It is great when two complimentary career paths can both work for each other, bringing additional skills of currency, competence, leadership and opportunities that otherwise may not have arisen.”

Born and raised on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Pip studied undergraduate nursing at the UTAS and came fourth in the state overall for her studies, and then spent two years studying emergency medicine, particularly flight nursing, before pursuing hyperbaric and diving medicine at RHH.

Pip’s family has a long and proud history of military service. Her ancestor PTE Henry J.V. Priestley, 11^th Battalion, was one of the 8000 soldiers killed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, and his brother GNR Victor R.M. Priestley served with the Light Horse. Another ancestor, Sister Adeline B.G. Priestley, was a civilian nurse who went on to serve with the Australian Army Nursing Service in World War One.

In her second year of nursing, Pip enlisted with the Reserves as a musician and after nine years put her hand up for officer selection and transferred across to the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps.

With her military hat on, Pip has experienced a vast range of opportunities, from role playing for a tsunami training exercise to organising body recovery activity from a dive barge, and taking flight in a Black Hawk helicopter to marching with fellow Defence nurses on ANZAC Day in the nation’s capital.

Pip, who thrives on professional development, said it is vital as a nurse leader to be passionate.

“Unless you have that you cannot instil the love of learning and leading to others,” she said.

“Maintain your own motivation for learning so as to be an example and role model.

“Set yourself goals and achieve the things important to you. Seek opportunities to extend yourself out of your comfort zone so you can determine where your boundaries truly are.”

Pip said she would continue to work as a nurse educator, nurturing the future workforce and challenging current colleagues to extend themselves.

“Once my children are old enough, I would love the opportunity to serve my country overseas on humanitarian, disaster relief or peacekeeping missions and, should it be required, in a war zone,” she said.