As the nurse practitioner role gains momentum in Australia, they are moving into specialised and diverse areas. Linda Belardi speaks to three trailblazers

Lieutenant-Commander Morag Ferguson is Australia's first military nurse practitioner with the Royal Australian Navy. She is one of a small group of trailblazing nurses working in the specialty of dive medicine. Based at HMAS Stirling in Perth, Ferguson is responsible for ensuring the care and safety of all submariners and divers during their regular pressurised escape training. In collaboration with a specialist medical officer, she responds to any emergencies that might occur during a diver's ascent from a 20-metre deep vertical escape tower. Ferguson says the controlled scenarios replicate...