October 2019
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Coming home to Northern: The journey of Dr Fidel Touma
Fidel Touma is a Consultant General Surgeon here at Northern Hospital. Fidel says everyone he works with are very helpful. “They are like friends – brothers and sisters helping everyone.” “They always have time for my questions about the health system. I feel part of a big family here at the Northern,” says Fidel. Family has always been a big consideration for Fidel. It is the reason he left his home country of Syria for Australia, arriving here on 1 July 2014. Prior to joining Northern Health, Fidel served as Director of Surgery of the Assuqaylabiyah National Hospital in the…
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Safe Work Month
Safe Work Month is a national health and safety awareness campaign developed by Safe Work Australia. This year’s theme, “Be a Safety Champion,” is about highlighting that anyone, employers or employees from any occupation, can be a champion for work health and safety. Everyone can support a safety culture in the workplace. At Northern Health, we have Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) who have taken on the role of being a Safety Champion for their work group. HSRs are the highly dedicated representatives who work to maintain a safe and professional workplace. One of them is Steven Micallef, who works…
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Meet Grant Taylor
Grant Taylor, Site Manager and Director of Nursing for Broadmeadows Hospital and Craigieburn Centre, always starts his working day with a coffee, which he prepares at the office. “Then I wander to the wards, ask staff how the previous shift has been and meet with the coordinators. I conduct a lot of meetings, take some time to meet patients and it’s all about keeping Broadmeadows Hospital and Craigieburn Centre operational and ensuring we are meeting the demands,” he said. Prior to coming to Northern Health this winter, Grant was at Melbourne Health for five and a half years as a…
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David Ryan: Our cyber security
During the previous month, we have been seeing news about cyber-attacks on hospitals, especially a significant attack which affected hospitals in the Gippsland and South West regions of Victoria. The attack led to some of the hospitals, including Barwon Health to cancel some elective surgery and appointments. We monitor these events closely and take them very seriously. A couple of days ago, we have received important information from DHHS via the Victorian Government Cyber Incident Response Service (CIRS) that Victorian Government organisations are being targeted in phishing campaigns attempting to deploy malware known as Emotet. The organisations impacted reported receiving…
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Cert II students graduate at Northern Health
Northern Health recently celebrated the graduating class of 2019 Business Administration and Community Services students at Northern Hospital Epping. Of the graduating Certificate II students, Northern Health is offering placements to four students to complete their Certificate III in 2020. Northern Health has a partnership with AGA Apprenticeships Plus to provide eligible students with the opportunity to complete a Certificate II in Business Administration or Certificate II in Community Services whilst completing Year 11 or 12. Students attend placement one day per week across a number of departments including People & Culture, Women’s & Children’s Services and Ambulatory Care at…
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Wanda Stelmach: What were you doing in the 80’s?
In the lead up to this year’s 80’s themed Northern Health Foundation Dinner, we sat down with Divisional Director of Surgery, Wanda Stelmach, to find out what she was doing in the 80’s! Read her story below. To purchase your tickets to the Dinner, please click here. 1980’s was a decade of firsts for me! I went from being a medical student in a short coat to junior doctor in a long coat! I went from paying Uni fees of around $300 to being paid an income! However, the hours facing residents in the 80’s were horrible with 36 hour…
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Our CUSP program presented in Taiwan
At the International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare in Taiwan, Clare McCarthy, Project Manager PMO/HRO Transformation Unit, presented a poster on our Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Programs (CUSP). Clare attended the ‘Transforming Quality for Tomorrow’ Conference, to present an ePoster ‘The CUSP of High Reliability – Implementing Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Programs at Northern Health’. “I presented to an international audience of clinicians, academics and health administrators on how Northern Health is the first health service in Australia to embark on establishing itself as a High Reliability Organisation (HRO). The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) is a key component of…
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Future nurses and midwives impress with research projects
Each year, Northern Health graduate nurses and midwives are required to complete a project aimed at improving the quality and safety of the patients they provide care for. This year, there were 66 posters presented by graduates representing the quality activity they undertook. Posters were judged based on innovation, improving patient experience and addition to nursing knowledge. Displayed simultaneously with Research Week, the posters created significant interest and demonstrated the skill of these emerging nurse/midwifery leaders who are clearly focused on improving the patient journey. And the winner is… Stefanie Shears for her project: Pre-operative fasting time affecting dietary nutritional…