Northern Health has a support program in place for people who have tested positive to COVID-19 in our catchment area.

Our COVID Monitor Program provides best practice care for people whom have tested positive for COVID-19, and ensures other health care needs are met whilst in the program.

The telephone-monitoring program also helps to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions of mild COVID-19 cases and ensures isolation protocols are followed to limit community spread.

Patients complete a daily self-check survey to let a Northern Health staff member know how they are feeling and if they have any other symptoms. Staff will then contact patients based on their symptoms and if they need assistance with staying at home and isolating for 14 days.

The program runs seven days a week, and provides patients with health advice if symptoms worsen and how to get food and essential items during isolation. Support is also available for families with children and interpreters are on hand.

The program is supporting over 1,200 people, with increasing daily demand. Patients are allocated to Northern Health by the North Eastern Public Health Unit (NEPHU).

Johanna Hayes, Divisional Director of Hospital Without Walls, said the program had seen an increase in patients from 20 to over 1,200 in the past three weeks.

“Last year, the COVID Monitor Program saw 900 patients over a three month period, which at that time was the highest in Australia. In the past three weeks, we have gone from 20 patients to now over 1,200 patients,” she said.

“We have an IT system in the background, so patients are sent a text message every day and then we can monitor their symptoms remotely. Our staff can make contact with our patients if we can see their COVID-19 symptoms starting to deteriorate.”

“A lot of the symptoms of concern are shortness of breath and chest pain, but there are also a lot of people who are highly anxious and worried. If you can walk in the shoes of the people who have got COVID-19, you’ll understand that it is a very stressful time for families, individuals, and the community.”

“We also work closely with the Northern Health Virtual Emergency Department. Patients can have a telehealth appointment with an Emergency Department clinician. We continue to improve and innovate the care for people at home.”

Staff from across the health service are assisting with the program, working at Bundoora Centre or from home.

“We have pulled lots of people from so many different areas. I am very grateful to people who have put their hands up. People come from clinical backgrounds, with nursing, allied health, medical and research expertise. We also have people who are providing valuable support such as interpreting, care coordination and finance.”

“We also have some retired health professionals volunteering their time and have been able to share their knowledge and wisdom with us and our patients.”

Henni Wade, Manager Volunteer Services, said Northern Health volunteers were preparing to assist with the program.

“We are hoping the volunteers can assist with deliveries of food and other supplies if normal avenues are not available. We are putting procedures in place to ensure this support can be offered in a safe way,” Henni said.

“We have about 14 volunteers who have offered to assist and they are eagerly awaiting to be assigned a job. They are raring to go and can’t wait to feel like they have a sense of purpose in helping the hospital’s approach to caring for our community.”

Requests for Northern Health volunteers to assist with deliveries of essential items can be sent to volunteer@nh.org.au.

Featured image: Nicky Tully and Sue Hull at the COVID Monitor Program

Northern Health patients now have more fresh and healthy meal varieties as our kitchen staff go live with cooking fresh vegetables in their new state of the art industrial kitchen, with three new steamers utilised for this purpose.

Our food services department transitioned into the new kitchen in February, which was one of the first areas to open as part of the Stage 2 of the Northern Hospital Expansion Project.

Tina Smith, ISS Catering Manager, said her team received feedback from patient surveys about what they would like to see on the menu in regards to fresh and healthier meal options.

“For the patients, it means better quality vegetables and more variety and patient satisfaction. The chefs are very excited to be cooking fresh vegetables in our modern kitchen,” Tina said.

“The new kitchen was designed as a hybrid to cook some fresh items. It has taken a lot of group work to get us to this point and we are very proud to provide excellent services to the patients.”

Saj Amerasinghe, ISS Key Account Manager, said the ISS Food Service team was in consultation with Dietetics and Speech Pathology to enhance patient meals at lunch and dinner times.

“This is a great partnership for Northern Health to working towards patient satisfaction in the patient journey,” Saj said.

“I would personally like to thank the Food Services team, Greg Warman, Director of Support Services, the Dietetics team and Speech Pathology for all the support throughout and making this project a success. This is what we exactly mean by at ISS, we connect people and places to make the world better.”

Hayley Collins, Grade 3 Dietitian, said, “Dietetics and Speech Pathology worked closely with the Food Service team to develop a new fresh vegetable menu, add items and build recipes into the menu management system Delegate, update the default menu with these changes, as well as add in nutrition and allergen information,” she said.

“The Speech Pathology team have been instrumental in ensuring the vegetables meet international standards for consistency.”

Greg Warman said the team had been working towards these enhancements since the new kitchen opened.

Featured image: ISS team member preparing meals

Northern Health Allied Health students and graduates have access to an Interprofessional Passport, designed for students and early career clinicians across all professions including allied health, nursing and medical.

The passport is a learner-led and clinically-based suite for interprofessional learning activities. It has been designed to help students and early career clinicians better understand their role, the role of others and how to work collaboratively in a team to deliver safe and trusted care to our community.

Talin Gochian, Interprofessional Educator – Allied Health, highlighted the importance of interprofessional practice.

“Today’s patients have increasingly complex needs. In order for us to fully address the spectrum of their needs, we are required to work together interprofessionally,” Talin said.

“When done successfully, interprofessional practice helps to improve the patient experience, improve health outcomes and reduces related costs.”

“At Northern Health, we are committed to educating students and early career clinicians not only about their profession, but how to work effectively in interprofessional teams.”

When asked about what made a great team, Talin said it was a multitude of factors.

“If we look at the most successful teams on the sporting field, in a survivor challenge or in a hospital, there are a few essential elements which make theses teams – communication, a common goal, understanding each others roles and responsibilities and mutual respect,” she said.

“The Interprofessional Passport helps to inform the importance of these elements, transforming clinicians beyond professional to interprofessional practitioners.”

Peter Brack, Associate Director – Education, Allied Health and Interprofessional Programs, said working within collaborative teams had shown to have a positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of team members.

“As a health service, we are going through an extraordinarily challenging time and now, more than ever, we need to rely on those around us. We hope that participation in the Interprofessional Passport will help our students and early career professionals make connections with others and reflect on the importance of our teams in supporting our patients and each other,” Peter said.

The resource is being launched initially with new graduates and students from Allied Health, but is planned to be rolled out with other disciplines from early 2022. The Interprofessional Passport is also available on the Intranet.

Anyone with questions can contact Peter at peter.brack@nh.org.au.

Northern Health staff are constantly adapting the way we conduct ward rounds to meet new and changing circumstances constantly. With the implementation of our Electronic Medical Record (EMR), the primary function and purpose of the ward rounds will not change with the EMR, but the tools our staff use to access and document information will be different.

Currently, we may refer to various paper forms, such as medication chart, plan of care, and observation chart for decision making. One of the benefits that the EMR will  bring is a more streamlined process of information retrieval. Other than holding information from all treating clinicians, data recorded on some devices will also be fed into the EMR. The patient data will be presented in a summary screen that displays the most important information about the patient. In cases where our clinicians would like more in-depth information on the patient, they will have the ability to drill down into the details about the patient’s condition and treatment by using the system.

“Being able to access the EMR in real-time as we discuss the long-stay patients in the virtual LOS Round will be very useful, as viewing the most current information will allow us to understand more about what needs to be achieved in order for the patients to be safely discharged,” says Lorinda McPherson, Manager, Acute to Community Coordination Team.

While this change will bring significant benefits in terms of accuracy and breadth of information, as well as legibility, there will be significant adjustments that will take time and practice for us to feel comfortable using the EMR. Patient data documentation will no longer be on paper forms, especially for our wards. Instead, we will have a workstation on wheels (WOW) or a laptop on a trolly to take to the patient’s bedside to enter information. However, with this change, we will need to practice to work out the best way to enter information, view the electronic record and make eye contact with the patient and our team.

Catherine O’Connell, EMR Clinical Documentation Analyst, says from her previous experience in using WOW at the bedside at Monash Health, the transition was beneficial for both the patient and the clinicians, but it will take some time and patience to get used to.

“I found small tips such as letting the patient know what I was doing and placing the WOW to the side and not directly between the patient and I were very helpful in the transition. Once you get used to documenting in real-time, you will never want to go back as overall, the benefits greatly outweigh the inconveniences,” says Catherine.

To help our staff to become more comfortable with the EMR, the EMR team will provide training in how to use the EMR, with practice opportunities such as walkthroughs to familiarise with the equipment and technology, as well as the practicalities of moving around the space and paying attention to our body language.

Dr Richard King, Executive Physician, says the LOS Round was successful despite lockdown. “We would not have been able to carry out the LOS Round during lockdown without the help of digital technology. It was extremely successful and I would like to thank the nursing staff and registrars for their support in making this possible.”

“It was exciting to see how technology had enabled us to conduct virtual ward rounds. We were able to involve key clinicians who may be working from home due to the current COVID-19 situation. I believe with the introduction of the EMR, this could contribute positively to improving our future ward rounds,” says Laura Hughes, Project Manager, Project Management Office and HRO Transformation Unit.

Featured image (left to right): Dr Sandra Brown, Divisional Director, Sub Acute and Aged Care, EMR Medical Accountable Leader; Dr Richard King, Executive Physician and Lorinda McPherson, Manager, Acute to Community Coordination Team

The community is encouraged to put lymphoma in the limelight during September, as part of Lymphoma Awareness Month.

Yesterday also marked World Lymphoma Awareness Day, which is celebrated every year on 15 September to raise awareness of cancers of the lymphatic system.

According to Lymphoma Australia – a charity dedicated to supporting lymphoma patients, carers and health professionals – there is a new lymphoma diagnosis every two hours in Australia. However, lymphoma is currently classed as a low priority cancer in Australia. Lymphoma Australia aims to improve community awareness to assist in early diagnosis and access to the best possible treatment.

As part of Lymphoma Awareness Month, the community is encouraged to show their support by wearing the colour lime for someone with lymphoma, share a fact to help raise awareness, take on a challenge and share #Lime4Lymphoma.

Naveeni Natkunarajah, Ward 3 Nurse Unit Manager, says lymphoma is the sixth most common cancer in the country.

“It is also the most common blood cancer affecting the lymphatic system – white blood cells – and can affect all age groups,” says Naveeni.

“Over the last 12 months, Northern Health has treated 274 inpatient admissions for various types of lymphoma.”

“There are 80 different sub types of lymphoma that are classified according to the rate of growth – with a new diagnosis every two hours and lives lost every six hours. Northern Health Cancer Services are going lime this September to put lymphoma in the limelight and support people who are experiencing this life changing illness. The monies raised will help patients and families who have been touched by lymphoma and assist in funding for specialist lymphoma care nurses.”

Northern Health’s Haematology Service under Cancer Services is expanding, says Naveeni, with a Haematology Specialist Outpatient Clinic Service and Day Oncology Treatment Centre, which now incorporates the NOAH@Home program, offering oncology and haematology treatment at home, together with Ward 3 for inpatient diagnostic investigation, diagnosis and treatment.

“We provide an inpatient consultation liaison with our Clinical Nurse Consultants, inpatient nursing treatment education, inpatient chemotherapy administration, together with discharge planning advice and resources for support. We have an on-call symptom review contact for patients to call following discharge with any questions, queries and support,” says Naveeni.

Featured image (left to right): Ward 3 Chemotherapy Trained Nurses Sarita Rai, Samantha Hewa Inaththappulige and Hashika Dharmatileka

Northern Health has a new Wellbeing team that consists of three team members – Stephen Whittaker, Wellbeing Team Leader, Renee Camilleri, Wellbeing Advisor, and Casey O’Brien, Wellbeing Project Psychologist. The team will be working to implement initiatives throughout the organisation to Protect, Promote and Support our staff’s mental health and wellbeing, with the ultimate goal of giving our staff the best opportunity to THRIVE.

Many of you would have seen the story on Stephen Whittaker back in June. Right now, the team are very focused on supporting staff in the midst of the current Covid-19 situation across Melbourne, making ‘Wellbeing Check In’ calls to furloughed staff and ensuring ward staff working on Covid-19 Wards have what they need to feel safe, both physically and psychologically.

“We are here to support Northern Health staff – to strengthen our culture of care and ensure everyone feels safe, heard, appreciated and valued,” Stephen said.

Renee is working on the new wellbeing plan for our staff, and ensuring everyone is up to date on what is currently available.

“As someone who is a Criminology and Psychology graduate, this field of work is a passion of mine, so I am looking forward to having a hands on approach in the coming 12 months – I am very excited to be here,” Renee said.

She is currently in the process of re-branding the THRIVE program and updating Intranet pages, where staff will be able to find valuable resources, tools and invitations. One of them are our TREAT Rest and Recovery sessions, which “do wonders for relaxation and mindfulness”.

The third member of the team is Casey, a qualified Psychologist who is focused on developing tailored wellbeing supports for our staff, which include shared reflection sessions. These are designed to encourage staff to have respectful conversations about professional experiences in a safe and confidential open forum.

“We want staff to have as many avenues and platforms to share their experiences as possible,” Casey said.

“The Northern Health Wellbeing team is a wonderful addition to the People & Culture directorate. Supporting the health and wellbeing of our staff is more important than ever and having a team of qualified, passionate and dedicated wellbeing experts is a welcomed and exciting addition to Northern Health,” said Jade Ralston, Director, People and Culture.

All current wellbeing events and resources can be found on the THRIVE Intranet page, with much more to come over the coming 12 months.

Featured image: Renee Camilleri (left), Stephen Whittaker (middle) and Casey O’Brien (right).

Yesterday was World Sepsis Day (WSD), an initiative by the Global Sepsis Alliance to spread community awareness about sepsis, and strategies in infection prevention and early recognition.

WSD is held on 13 September every year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against sepsis.

Sepsis arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multi-organ failure and death, especially if not recognised early and treated promptly.

Sepsis is a global health crisis. It affects between 47 and 50 million people worldwide every year and at least 11 million die – with one death every 2.8 seconds. Twenty per cent of all deaths worldwide are associated with sepsis.

Depending on the country, mortality varies between 15 and more than 50 per cent. Many surviving patients suffer from the consequences of sepsis for the rest of their lives.

To improve outcomes, community awareness of signs and symptoms, together with time-critical recognition and appropriate healthcare management, is essential in reducing morbidity and mortality associated with this condition.

In 2013, Northern Health introduced the Step on Sepsis Program.

Cassie Gilbert, Step on Sepsis Project Coordinator, said the program was developed to aid in early recognition and appropriate management of sepsis at Northern Health.

“The goal is to decrease time to antibiotics and improve patient outcomes,” Cassie said.

“Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response. Sepsis, a silent killer, is considered a medical emergency. It is the leading treatable cause of mortality globally. The risk of dying from sepsis increases by as much as eight per cent for every hour treatment is delayed.”

“It is time critical to promptly recognise the warning signs of sepsis and respond appropriately to improve patient outcomes. As clinicians, we are essential in the early recognition of sepsis and advocating for our patients to ensure the early treatment of sepsis.”

The program has been successful in helping clinicians improve the recognition and treatment of patients with sepsis. This program focuses on examining time to treat with antibiotics, as well as improving nursing and medical staff education in identifying and managing patients with serious infections.

To find out more about sepsis management at Northern Health, click here.

If you would like to know more about sepsis and world sepsis day, head to www.worldsepsisday.org and www.vsgr.org.

Featured image: Cassie Gilbert, Step on Sepsis Project Coordinator

The ‘preMETs on Medtasker’ project was launched 13 April 2021, moving preMET calls from the paging system to Medtasker and allowing direct communication between clinical staff i.e. nurse to doctor, in line with Standard 8.

Sandy Ayuob, Medtasker Project Officer, explains benefits of this change include lessening the workload for Switchboard, a faster and more reliable two-way communication, and the ability to record and review data, with time-stamped information. To monitor the progress of the project, the team conducted a pre-implementation and post-implementation survey.

“In the pre-implementation survey, we wanted to find out what staff thoughts were on moving preMets to MedTaskers, and of the 93 responses 66 per cent thought there would be risk moving from preMET to Medtasker. However, in the post-implementation survey there were 147 responses where 65 per cent experienced no issues. Overall, there were 60 per cent of staff who were satisfied with Medtasker, 30 per cent felt neutral to the change, and only 10 per cent were dissatisfied,” she explained.

On top of the data from the survey, the team looked at the data collected on the MedTasker app.

“The PreMET Working Group, led by Dr Lachlan Hayes, collected, and analysed ten weeks of data post Go-Live. There were 3,273 preMET tasks sent and 4,504 calls to Switchboard saved. Of the preMET tasks, 97 per cent were accepted within 30 minutes, the median response time was one minute and completion time was 26 minutes,” she explained.

Sandy and the team are quite happy with these results, and to improve the service, they also looked at the 10 per cent of the dissatisfied responders to find a common theme.

“Part of the feedback was the team didn’t find the staff member to send the preMET call to, as some clinical staff weren’t logged in. I would like to remind the clinicians that they need to log into their shift if they have a role that they need to display on Medtasker,” she said.

“The second issue was that in some cases, there weren’t enough computers to send the preMETs on, and the third was the slow response time. Some people weren’t pleased with the response time, but the median time shows the majority were answered on time,” she said.

Dr Sing TAN, an ICU consultant, ICU EMR Senior Medical Analyst and CHIA certified informatician, shared the digitisation of preMETs creates a level of visibility that is the first of its kind, and the data generated will undoubtedly provide insights that can lead to improvements in our management of deteriorating patients.

Elise Sutton, Clinical Deterioration Coordinator, shared her views from the Standard 8 perspective.

“With the assistance from Leanne from Decision Support, moving to Medtasker has given us the ability to pull data on preMET calls and have live updates on the Reporting Portal MET dashboard. The information available will allow Standard 8 to report on preMET data including the reason for activation, failed or delayed response, multiple preMET calls, correlation with MET calls, mortality, and allow for targeted education,” she said.

Finally, the team noted there was no increase in MET calls and Code Blues. The Medtasker team is now exploring a research project investigating the failed preMET calls which progressed as MET calls and has plans to implement Medtasker at Broadmeadows Hospital as well.