Applying a clinical lens – Meet Samantha Keene
As a Registered Nurse, ConneXu’s new Clinical Advisor Samatha Keene is enjoying meeting ConneXu Partners and applying her extensive clinical knowledge and perspective to things that are happening on any given day at ConneXu.
Joining us in September 2025, Samantha says the Clinical Advisor Role at ConneXu utilises a range of her skills, including clinical support and advice, staff training, and implementing new systems and processes.
It’s about focusing on proactive, preventative health and applying a clinical lens to everyday tasks and interactions.
“As a Clinical Advisor I am providing advice around clinical support – to disabled partners directly, to staff showing them how to do different clinical tasks, and to ConneXu as a whole organisation. It’s about applying a clinical lens to the things we’re doing, focusing on outcomes,” she says.
“I’m also working on special projects including changing from a paper-based system to an electronic based system for things like medication management. We’re developing medication training for staff too, looking at basic medication knowledge like administering medication, what are you looking for and how to fill in the forms.”
Samantha says she is enjoying the challenge and appreciates the passion within the ConneXu team.
“I’m excited to be getting stuck in...Everyone that works here has a passion for why they are here. Coming from the aged-care sector in my previous role, you didn’t always see that, so it’s great to be working in such a passionate environment.”
Samantha has worked in nursing since she graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing from Wintec.
“I literally jumped on a plane to Australia when I graduated and joined a Graduate Nursing Programme at a rural hospital in Victoria,” she says.
“It was very hands-on working in primary health GP clinics and living out in the desert I saw the lack of resources in rural Australia. That inspired me to apply for a post-graduate scholarship in Diabetes Education and Management.”
“From there I moved into community nursing, focusing more on aged care and working with a few younger patients, doing clinical assessments and general healthcare tasks.”
“I also worked as a Quality Education Manager for a large health provider, which brought out my passion for training staff from all areas of the organisation, from laundry workers to Registered Nurses.”
Wanting to be closer to family while enjoying the kiwi lifestyle and wanting to give their daughter the same kiwi upbringing they had, Samantha and her partner and daughter made the jump back to New Zealand in winter 2025.
She is excited about the potential of her role as Clinical Advisor, and what impact this will have on partners and ConneXu.
“I get to work with partners directly, providing support in a non-GP setting. This means it isn’t so rushed, and I can spend more time with people, which benefits the partners and allows us to focus on outcomes rather than a quick fix.”
“We’re able to be proactive and focus on preventative health as well. I am currently working towards certification in immunisations and cervical smears, and continue to build my specialist expertise in diabetes,” she says.
“Being able to do these every-day medical tasks can be helpful in terms of distress minimisation, where partners are in their own environments and may feel less overwhelmed and uncomfortable…In some cases I can teach or help them to take their own sample for example, which helps them to be more independent too.”
She says her why is being able to help people.
“Knowing I am helping people, even if indirectly, is my why…I’m helping people that often get overlooked and overwhelmed from the health care sector.”