April 2021
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Sweet taste of success
Our Food Services Team has been nominated for an ISS Apple Award for their transition into the new state of the art industrial kitchen at Northern Hospital Epping. Saj Amerasinghe, ISS Key Account Manager, said the Apple Awards recognises employees for going above and beyond what is expected. The team moved into the new kitchen in February, which is one of the first areas in Stage 2 of the Northern Hospital Expansion Project to officially go live. The new kitchen is on the ground floor of the new building. Greg Warman, Director of Support Services, nominated the team for the award.…
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Safety first for Graham Wilson
This week, we caught up with Northern Health’s new Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Director, Graham Wilson. What’s your coffee order? A double espresso. I’m a coffee nerd and I will do pour over at home in the morning. I grind my own beans. I have an absolute ritual of how I make coffee in the morning but if I go out for coffee, it’s a double espresso. Tell us about your Northern Health journey. I am the Director of OHS and I have been here nine weeks. At the end of week one, COVID-19 made a resurgence and I…
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Our Allied Health Graduate Program begins
Ten Allied Health graduates are making the journey to becoming a professional Allied Health Practitioner. The Northern Health Allied Health Graduate Program was introduced in 2004, and this year’s program kicked off in February. The program is designed to assist Allied Health Practitioners make the transition from student to professional. Program participants are Allied Health professionals in their first health professional job since graduation or in their first role in a large health service. Program Facilitator Talin Gochian said the Northern Health Allied Health Graduate Program offers a series of six facilitated group sessions over six months that focus on…
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CARE Record – learning more about patients
Hannah Conrick, Associate Nurse Unit Manager on Ward 16, looks after 32 patients on the ward, and oversees bed flow. As a surgical ward, Ward 16 also oversees patients coming from the Emergency Department, as well as elective surgery patients. “That is why it is really important that we do CARE Records, as we do have a very big turnover of patients each day. On Monday, we had around 12 discharges and admissions,” she said. Hannah says there are days when the team find it challenging to complete the record within the time constraints, but at the same time, they…
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A new chapter for Natasha Bradley
We caught up with Northern Health’s new Library Manager, Natasha Bradley. What’s your coffee order? I don’t drink coffee, I drink tea, chai tea. Tell us about your Northern Health journey. I started at the very end of June last year, just before lockdown two. So it was a pretty interesting time to start at a hospital. How did COVID-19 impact the library? It had an impact on people’s ability to access the space because we do get people from all over the hospital come in together, so that was something that presented a risk. The library was closed as…
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Get to know the EMR team
The journey of Northern Health’s Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Program took off in February with nearly 40 staff members embarking on a two to three year project to implement EMR across Northern Health. The EMR will be a fully integrated digital patient record that will provide clinicians help to support high quality care for our patients. Over the next 18 months, staff across all our services will be involved in the design of the EMR and will bring a wealth of experience to the team. Gladis Thomas is an EMR Analyst – Clinical Documentation and has been with Northern Health…
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Standard 5: What you need to know
In the lead up to organisation wide Accreditation from 24-28 May 2021, each week Northern Health will be focusing on a different Standard. You will hear from the Chairs of each Standard Committee on what you need to know. This week we spoke to Debra Bourne, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, about Standard 5: Comprehensive care. What is this standard about? Standard 5 is aimed at ensuring patients receive care that is based on their individual care needs and considers the whole person in that care. It also aims to ensure that each patient is assessed at the beginning and…
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ED Wellbeing Week starts
This year will the third year that our Emergency Department is holding ED Wellbeing Week. Dr Kirin Channa, Emergency Physician and Quality Lead, said this year, wellbeing week is more important than ever. “We may have gone through the worst of COVID-19 last year, but this year we have ongoing challenges, such as the increasing number of presentations during the COVID- normal phase. Our staff really need a focus on wellbeing,” she said. Kirin is especially looking forward to learning more on what burnout is, as she feels it is important to acknowledge what the team is experiencing. “The staff…