Research Week 2022 is now back in its usual time slot. This year too, this will primarily be a ‘virtual’ event with virtual presentations, posters and guest speakers, presenting the work conducted in 2022.

The feature department this year is Emergency Services, presenting a webinar on Tuesday 11 October at 10 am. Click here to join.

Research Week 2022 celebrates our inspired researchers. Click here for more details and the complete program.

Associate Professor Joe Rotella Joe will present on ‘Hyperemesis ad Nauseum: Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS)’. CHS is a condition that affects some, but not all individuals with a history of heavy cannabis use. His presentation will be paired with the findings of a recently published case series of CHS presentations from Northern Health, the largest case series published in the world to date.

“We looked at 142 adult presentations of CHS over six years (the largest prior was 98 presentations in the USA),” said Joe.

“We also examined demographics, clinical features, investigation results (a first for case series looking at CHS) and management.”

Dr Rifly Rafiudeen has worked at Northern Health for the last five years, completing a combined PhD and Interventional Cardiology Fellowship, under the mentorship of Professor Bill van Gaal and Professor Peter Barlis. Rifly’s research is focussed on Type 2 Myocardial Infarction (T2MI), and in particular, T2MI occurring after major non-cardiac surgery.

Rifly will present his findings from a prospective, double-blind, placebo controlled, randomised controlled trial. The trial used ivabradine started pre-operatively to reduce peri-operative MI and improve morbidity/mortality, in elderly patients undergoing surgery for acute fracture. The trial ran over three years, and recruited 209 patients.

“Ivabradine is a relatively new first-in-class cardiac medication that selectively reduces heart rate without affecting blood pressure,” said Rifly.

“It was an ideal choice for our study question, where we were trying to prevent tachycardia without the hypotension that beta blockers can cause.”

Dr David Crosbie, is an Intensivist at Northern Hospital Epping since 2012, and a Visiting Intensivist at The Austin Hospital. David will present on ‘Non-beneficial resuscitation of patients who have an in hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA).’

‘Non-beneficial resuscitation’, is a term they coined to describe resuscitation attempted on someone, who the doctors believe will clearly not benefit from resuscitation-and can actually end up being harmed.

His presentation draws on nine years of data, which built on an existing data base that David expanded on and made more detailed and readily accessible.

‘I got interested in Code Blues in particular, and thought we would look at them from two aspects. Firstly, why there are so many Code Blues, and how many of them are actually cardiac arrests and secondly, how appropriate resuscitation was in such instances.”

“I found that in our initial work that only about one in ten are actually cardiac arrests and what led to this paper was looking at the nine years of data in detail and seeing their outcomes and how they went.”

“Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certainly saves lives if you are an outpatient or out in the community; for example if you are having a cardiac arrest out in the football field,” says David.

“When you are in the hospital and really sick, we have a strong system to rescue and protect you. If that system does not work, it is only then a Code Blue is called,” he adds.

Dr Andrew Casamento an Intensive Care Consultant at Northern Hospital Epping, along with Austin and Warringal Private Hospitals, will be presenting on ‘Fentanyl vs. Morphine for Analgosedation in Mechanically Ventilated ICU patients’.

Andrew will present findings from the cluster-randomised, cluster-crossover trial.  He will also present some post-hoc analysis of this trial and details of a current trial underway of Ketamine as an adjunct therapy for analgesia in these patients.

As Faye Zaibak, Director, Research Operations, has pointed out, our research “improves the overall standard of medical care through the uptake of evidence into practice.”

The webinar on Tuesday 11 October showcasing our Emergency Services is a case in point and one to look forward to.

The complete Research Week event schedule will can be found here.

This week, we celebrate Perioperative Nurses Week.

Every day, our dedicated perioperative nurses at Northern Health show why they are real-life superheroes.

Perioperative nurses care for patients and their families prior to, during and after surgical procedures. They are highly-skilled, compassionate and always up for a challenge.

We take this time to acknowledge the wonderful work of our perioperative nurses all year round.

Our perioperative team have been celebrating all week long, with a number of fun activities including learning dances together, crazy socks, raffles, treasure hunts, bingo, ‘The Amazing Race’ and a bake-off. Well done and thank you to all the staff involved in running these activities!

Here a few reasons why our perioperative nurses love what they do:

“I love being a perioperative nurse because it is extremely rewarding to be able to support our patients as they go through a very vulnerable time that is surgery. Being able to advocate for our patients, while upholding the best quality of care is what we all pride ourselves on. As a perioperative manager, I am truly grateful and appreciative to have such an amazing, kind, and supportive team of perioperative nurses around me,” said Natasha (Tash) Josevski, Perioperative Nurse Unit Manager.

“I have been with Northern Health for almost 10 years. I completed a perioperative placement during my undergraduate studies and knew that is where I wanted my career to be! During my time as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at GOT, I fell in love with the vascular specialty and the intricacies of the surgeries. I was successful in becoming CSSD ANUM this year and it has been the most challenging and rewarding experience so far. The CSSD team are a great resource, as they are so knowledgeable in what they do! The reason why it’s great being part of the CSSD management team is because of the awesome staff members and a great boss, Melanie,” said Melissa Rigos, Acting Perioperative Nurse Unit Manager.

“I have been working in this field for the past 20 years. Prior to this, I started my career in ABI, then moved onto the medical/surgical wards. I enjoy the challenge of my role and know that I am making a difference in people’s lives everyday. I contribute my lengthy service to the amazing team in which I work that are ever so kind and supportive,” said Fran Daly, Acting Perioperative Nurse Unit Manager.

Research Week at Northern Health showcases a range of local and innovative research projects and presentations from research leaders around the world.

The week will be held October 10 – 14, and will primarily be a virtual event with virtual presentations, posters and guest speakers presenting the work conducted in 2022.

This year will feature the work of our Emergency Service Researchers. Dr David Crosbie, Staff Specialist Intensivist and Medical Donation Specialist, will discuss non-beneficial resuscitation of patients who have an in-hospital cardiac arrest. Dr Rifley Rafiudeen, a Northern Health Foundation and University of Melbourne PhD scholar, will present his exciting new paper on Ivabradine. Associate Professor Joe Rotella, Clinical Toxicologist and Emergency Physician, will discuss the diagnosis, proposed pathophysiology and recommended management of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome.

Northern Hospital Epping’s Emergency Department experienced the highest demand in it’s recorded history over the last three years, requiring rapid innovation. Dr Loren Sher, Director of Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED), will also speak at the Northern Health Foundation Corporate Breakfast on Friday, 14 October at Mantra Epping. She will detail the journey from being a research project, to implementing a service that is now a statewide funded initiative. Professor Leigh Kinsman, La Trobe University, will round out the discussion in the Grand Round, illustrating the challenges of rural health emergency medicine.

Staff are also invited to hear about the great work at Northern Health in the oral presentations and poster sessions, then wind-down with a fun trivia session with Dr Shane Huntington as MC.

Faye Zaibak, Director, Research Operations, said Research Week allowed us to come together as an organisation and celebrate the achievements of our researchers.

“Events such as this bring world best thought leaders together to share their experience and perspectives and challenge us to new heights,” she said.

“Research provides early access to innovative treatments and interventions for patients, and improves the overall standard of medical care through the uptake of evidence into practice. This has been shown to improve patient outcomes and safety.”

“The virtual sessions are open to all, so come along, share the link with family and friends and celebrate with us.”

Associate Professor Wanda Stelmach, Chief Medical Officer, encouraged as many staff to attend Research Week.

“The Research Community has once more developed an impressive number of events for Northern Health to enjoy. I highly recommend you join Research Week in particular the poster sessions which highlight the excellent work our researchers have produced,” she said.

A full Research Week event schedule will can be found here.

October is dedicated to raising awareness for mental health. The Mental Health Foundation Australia says it is an important time when the Australian community comes together to raise awareness and promote better mental health for all.

Monday, 10 October also marks World Mental Health Day. The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages us to use that day as an opportunity to re-kindle our efforts to protect and improve mental health for ourselves, for our families and for our communities.

As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a global crisis for mental health, fuelling short and long-term stresses, and undermining the mental health of millions. At the same time, mental health services have been severely disrupted and the treatment gap for mental health conditions has widened.

The WHO is encouraging people with mental health conditions, advocates, governments, employers, employees and other stakeholders to come together to recognise progress in this field and to be vocal about what we need to do to ensure mental health and wellbeing becomes a global priority for all.

Here at Northern Health, we kicked off the month with an initiative organised by the Black Dog Institute, called ‘One Foot Forward’ that encourages us to walk for mental health. A Northern Health team has been set up so staff can join and record their kilometres walking during October. Click here for more information.

Black Dog Institute also has many resources for the month and we would encourage you to visit their site here.

On World Mental Health Day, the Black Dog Institute will host a webinar on common mental health support options, and how individuals can effectively communicate these resources in their workplace. The webinar will be held at 12 noon. Click here to register.

As stigma and discrimination continue to be a barrier to social inclusion and access to the right care, we can all play our part in increasing awareness and this October is an opportunity to do that collectively.

Belinda Scott

Executive Director Mental Health

Jason Cirone is Northern Health’s new Chief Allied Health Officer (CAHO).

Jason joined Northern Health eight years ago as the Director of Medical and Nursing Workforce. Since then, he has worked in People and Culture within Operations, Human Resources and Workforce roles. In 2020 and 2021, he worked in Clinical Practice Improvement, supporting our Quality team with Northern Health’s accreditation preparation. Jason was appointed to the role of CAHO in July 2022.

“I have worked in public health since 1998. I have a background in physiotherapy and, early in my career, I did some physiotherapy work in private practice, occupational physiotherapy, community health, and also worked in the USA as a Physical Therapist,” Jason said.

“I love sports, and in particular I am a really big fan of swimming. I originally wanted to be a physiotherapist on the Australian swim team.”

Whilst that never worked out, Jason never misses an opportunity to watch a national or international swimming event, and has really enjoyed his career in Allied Health and management.

“Outside of Northern Health, I am an Accreditation Surveyor. It’s a privilege to enter another organisation, and I am grateful for the opportunity to see how other health services function. There is always a lot to learn, and I often focus on what I can bring back to Northern Health.”

“In 2020 and 2021, I supported Maree Glynn in preparation of our most recent accreditation. It was an amazing opportunity to learn more about clinical operations across our own organisation in a quality and safety context.”

As the new CAHO, Jason’s role is centred around professional governance and strategy for the Allied Health, TALS and Narrun Wilip-giin directorate. He also works closely with operational directors, and is keen to grow the directorate to keep with the health service’s expansion.

“As we acquire new services, or as current services expand, it’s important that Allied Health, TALS and Narrun Wilip-giin complements and supports the organisation in its growth – that is my overall vision,” he said.

“I also want to further develop our research and education for Allied Health, and strengthen our evidence-based practice. I’d like to showcase to the organisation the amazing achievements from the directorate. There are 500 staff, who all do amazing work which is incredibly impactful, and contribute to, not only patient flow and care within the hospital, but outpatients as well.”

Jason sees his new role as an opportunity to apply what he has learned, whilst continuing to learn and grow into a better leader.

“I have been enjoying the new role. Northern Health is a critical community resource – we are consistently relied upon by our community, which is growing very fast. I have come from this community, my family is from this community, and I strongly believe we provide an outstanding and highly valued service,” Jason said.

The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) team is excited to announce that Dr Sing Tan has recently joined the team as the Deputy Chief Medical Informatics Officer.

Sing started his medical career in 2009 as an ICU Intensivist. “I have always been fascinated by technology and the power of data, as well as health system design. ICU was the perfect blend of this. It is a high-tech environment where physiological measurements such as blood pressure and oxygen levels are measured by the second, and the data is then used to titrate and adjust therapies,” says Sing.

Sing has been with Northern Health for three years, and joined the EMR team as the Senior Medical Analyst-ICU when the project kick-started back in 2021. During his time with the EMR team, he has been involved in designing and validating medical workflows, especially in the intensive care space. With the EMR project moving away from system design and build, into system testing and operational readiness, Sing was the perfect fit as Deputy Chief Medical Informatics Officer.

“EMR is a significant transformation project and a key success factor is adoption, therefore Sing’s engagement with our clinicians will be key to its success,” says Trish Aldridge, EMR Program Director.

When asked about what made him decide to transition to a deputy role, Sing said the answer lies within digital health.

“Northern Health’s leadership has a strong commitment to leverage digital health innovations to improve quality, safety, and efficiency for our staff, patients, and community. This role allows me to tap into this territory of the unknown and is a rare opportunity for me to contribute to this major initiative that the whole organisation is working towards, and I am very excited to see the benefits that the EMR will bring to Northern Health,” says Sing.

Having worked at various hospitals with varying levels of EMR adoption, Sing found it most beneficial from a medical perspective when the flow of information between individuals, for example, doctor’s orders to pathology, is improved, and when patient care is improved due to generation of insights backed up by system data.

“With Northern Health EMR going live in September 2023, I hope to see the earliest impact to our medical staff to be a reduction in workflow inefficiencies, such as the 10 minute walk to radiology to put in a request slip, or the minutes spent looking for the patient’s drug chart,” adds Sing.

With great love for his clinical work, he now works part-time in both EMR and ICU spaces.

“The universal experience with EMR go-live is that it will be challenging, even in the most well-planned and executed settings. We fully recognise the challenging clinical landscape at Northern Health, however, I am confident that we can work together and support each other to launch an EMR in a safe and effective manner,” Sing concludes.

A very warm welcome to Dr Sing from the EMR team!

Today is International Translation Day (ITD) – a day to recognise the efforts of language professionals, both interpreters and translators alike. ITD,  held annually on 30 September, also pays tribute to the work our interpreters do which fosters understanding, bridges language gaps and successfully facilitates communication.

The theme for this year’s ITD celebration is ‘A World Without Barriers’.

In Australia, interpreters and translators begin their journey with training before sitting a certification test with NAATI – the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters. This pathway includes steps covering language proficiency, and ethical and intercultural competencies. Passing the certification test means an interpreter and translator becomes a certified practitioner, allowing them to practise across a broad range of disciplines from medical, legal, community and other areas requiring language services. This is what sets professional interpreters and translators apart from a bilingual person.

As part of the care that Northern Health provides to the community, including our CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) communities, we have TALS – the Transcultural and Language Services Department. TALS plays a major role in ensuring Northern Health is culturally competent via the provision of high-quality language services comprising professional interpreting, translation of medical material, transcultural training, research and education.

The TALS team is an award-winning entity with over 40 in-house staff providing interpreting services on more than 50,000 occasions a year, in over 100 different languages. Languages spoken  at Northern Health range from the most popular, Arabic, Assyrian, Chaldean, Chinese, Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, Italian, Macedonian, Persian, Serbian, Croatian, Turkish, Vietnamese, to the rarer language requests such as Hakka, Oromo, Tagalog and Somali.

TALS also delivers training such as cultural competence training, aimed at Northern Health staff and students, and manages an extensive translation database with hundreds of medical documents translated in the top eight languages.

Our TALS staff are NAATI certified interpreters and translators, which assures clinicians and staff that the message transfer to our patients and their families is clear, impartial, and accurate.

“This is why it is Northern Health policy to have a professional interpreter present in a medical consultation,” said David Le, TALS Manager.

Kostas Karamarkos, Greek TALS Interpreter, was a journalist and political advisor in Greece before migrating to Australia. “The right to be fully informed about your own health, in order to make appropriate decisions, is a fundamental human right. We are here to ensure that the accuracy and comprehension of the message is not lost,” he said.

Arabic, Assyrian and Chaldean Interpreter and Translator, Imad Hirmiz, who holds a postgraduate degree in translating and interpreting in Australia, worked as a refugee advocate before becoming an interpreter and translator at Northern Health.

‘‘Professional interpreters and translators act as a safeguard for both clinicians and patients, as it reassures quality of service provided by clinicians and ensures patients’ voices are heard and their cultural needs are supported,” Imad said.

Macedonian Interpreter and Translator, Slobodanka (Danche) Trajkovski, says, “Translation is not only about translating words, but rather about having the skills to convey the meanings and intentions, and to make them comprehensible for the person in their language.”

Danche has worked on government-funded multimedia projects, as well as been a broadcaster for the Macedonian SBS radio program before joining Northern Health.

Northern Health joins our interpreters and translators in celebrating this year’s International Translation Day, as we continue to work together to achieve the best possible health outcomes for our culturally and linguistically diverse members of the wider community.

Featured image (left to right): Kostas Karamarkos, May Khoshaba, Kire Stankovski, Nisreen Awad and David Le.

Northern Health is offering exciting opportunities for all enrolled and registered nurses to extend their careers.

The Department of Health, in conjunction with Northern Health, have a number of scholarships and opportunities available for nurses to be supported in their career pathway in 2023 and 2024.

“Investment in the nursing and midwifery workforce is essential to ensure safe and timely patient care. It is great to see the initiatives within ‘Making it free to study –  Nursing and midwifery‘ are not only for undergraduates, but also for those already employed to upskill and retain staff in specialty areas, improve professional development opportunities and support career progression,” said Lisa Cox, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer.

“I would recommend any nurse or midwife to strongly consider these scholarship supported programs for their own professional development, as well as upskilling nursing and midwifery at Northern Health,” Lisa added.

No matter what stage of your nursing or midwifery career you are at, there is an option for everyone.

The scholarships and support options cover the below categories:

For the Undergraduate Nurse transitioning to becoming a Registered Nurse:
Undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery Scholarships

For the Enrolled Nurse transition to becoming a Registered Nurse:
Scholarships to support Enrolled Nurse (EN) to Registered Nurse (RN) transition

For the nurse wanting to renter the workforce:
Scholarships and support for nurses to re-enter the workforce – Refresher Pathway

For the Graduate Registered Nurse:
Increased Graduate Nurse support and more numbers for 2023 and 2024

For the Postgraduate Nurse:
Additional postgraduate nursing positions in specialty areas and scholarships for postgraduate nurses and midwives in specialty areas

For the potential Nurse Practitioner:
Increased scholarship support for new Nurse Practitioners

If you interested in the above opportunities or to get more information, email educationenquiries@nh.org.au.

You can also speak with the clinical support nurses or educators in your area, your site Director of Nursing or speak with the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer.

Featured image (left to right): Current nurses and students at Northern Health – Tina, Registered Nurse; Clarissa, Registered Nurse (GNMP); Sebastian, Endorsed Enrolled Nurse and Trinity, Nursing Student from La Trobe University