July 2020
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New programs to increase staff wellbeing
Northern Health’s wellbeing team is announcing two initiatives to support staff wellbeing and health at this difficult time: “Sleepfit at Home” and “TREAT – 6 weeks online rest and recovery program”. Created by Jo Gibbs, healthcare worker, Therapeutic Relaxation And Enhanced Awareness Training or ‘Treat’ is a unique self-care and self-awareness workplace program that has been evaluated extensively in public hospitals and has been shown to significantly reduce burnout in health professionals. “The second COVID-19 wave in Melbourne has taken healthcare worker stress to a new high. Now is the time to take care of yourself with the Treat Rest…
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Postcard to my younger self: Andrew Nixon
To celebrate the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, we asked a selection of staff who exemplify the key qualities of a nurse/midwife to write a ‘postcard to their younger self’ and offer insight and advice. Andrew Nixon, Nurse Unit Manager, Ward 5, had this to say to his younger self: “Be patient. You will make many decisions throughout your life which will have far-reaching implications for you and the people you love. Some of those decisions will be mistakes. The mistakes will help make you who you are, even the couple of years you will spend in the…
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Pharmacy in times of COVID-19
In the current times of a pandemic, various Northern Health departments had to change their work processes and quickly adapt to the new normal. Pharmacy is one of our departments playing an instrumental role in managing our response to the pandemic, and it has been involved in a few different ways. “One of our primary focuses is the supply of medication. In the first wave, we were expecting to see a high number of patients coming in with COVID-19, so one of the key things was making sure we don’t run out of medication,” Angela Given, Medical Team Leader explained.…
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Volunteers donate bariatric wheelchair to Broadmeadows Dialysis Unit
Our Northern Health volunteers, in collaboration with Northern Heath Foundation, raised funds to support the purchase of a bariatric wheelchair for the Broadmeadows Hospital Dialysis Unit. Led by Nurse Unit Manager, Cheryl Rofe, the Broadmeadows Dialysis Unit were thrilled to receive the wheelchair to help support their patients. Bariatric wheelchairs are designed to meet the needs of patients who are larger, and have a significant impact on helping patients to feel more comfortable, while supporting staff to move them safely between areas. “Patients need appropriately-sized wheelchairs to support them when they come to Dialysis. For larger people, we didn’t have…
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Welcome Queensland nurses
Twenty-seven Queensland Health nurses have come to Melbourne to help out with the virus outbreak. Expressions of interest were sent out to nurses in the Sunshine State on whether they would like to be deployed to Melbourne to help with the COVID-19 response. “From the twenty-seven nurses, Northern Health now has nine nurses, who are at this stage assisting with our offsite COVID-19 testing and screening. The team are from six different health services in Queensland and have started working with us in our testing clinics located at Northern Hospital Epping, Meadow Heights and Oak Park,” explained Roslyn Payne, Director…
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#ThanksHealthHeroes
We are extremely proud and appreciative of all of our dedicated staff and the amazing work they have been doing over the last four months to fight COVID-19 together and protect our community. Our hard work and commitment hasn’t gone unnoticed and we have received many comments and words of appreciation on our social media channels from community members. Read some of them below: “Thank you and all of your colleagues for all of your hard work! You did my test for me a few days ago and was absolutely lovely and very reassuring, wonderful bedside manner! Really appreciated it!”…
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Transformation never stops
The High Reliability Organisation (HRO) and Project Management team have been working on a number of initiatives, both in the quality and safety space, and in finding new ways and initiatives for the organisation to adapt to the new normal. Quantum is one of those projects that the team has been working on, with Brooke Williams leading the way in its development. “This is a brand new Northern Health project management tool and the HRO team is excited in its staged roll out across the organisation in the coming period. The software is designed to manage projects, accreditation and committee…
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Foot Procedure Unit becomes NADC accredited
The Foot Procedure Unit (FPU) at Northern Health have been notified by The National Association Diabetes Centres (NADC) as an Accredited Core Level High Risk Foot Service. The news comes just in time for the National Diabetes Week, which starts this Sunday. The FPU team had been involved earlier this year to put through an online application showcasing the breadth of our services. “The certification of an accredited service showcases to the community that when they attend FPU/podiatry services at Northern Health, they are receiving the best care, as this proves we provide great evidence-based multidisciplinary care,” explained Jaspreet Kaur,…