2021
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Northern gets the Wellbeing Grant
Earlier this year, Northern Health applied for a ‘Healthcare Worker Wellbeing Grant’, from the Department of Health and is one of few Metro Health Services that received this grant. “When we were filling out the application, we were thinking how we can make most of the funding if we received it. What we wanted to do was to use the grant to build a new wellbeing team. Part of the grant will be hiring 2,5 EFT – a team leader, wellbeing team advisor and a project psychologist,” explained Jade Ralston, Director People and Culture. The main reason for Northern Health’s…
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ED Registrars pass with flying colours
For seven ED Registrars, a lot was riding on the outcome of the Emergency Registrar Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) Primary Exam. The exam tests student’s knowledge and understanding of the four basic sciences relating to emergency medicine – anatomy, pathology, physiology and pharmacology. There are two components to the exam, a written primary examination containing up to 360 questions made up of select choice, multiple choice and extending matching question, and an oral exam. Emergency Medicine Physician and Co-Director of Emergency Medicine Training Dr Raj Kathirgamanathan said students start studying and training nine months in advance. “It is…
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PreMETs coming to Medtasker
At Northern Health, Medtasker went live for inpatient routine clinical communication almost four years ago, and now the team is taking the next big step and adding the PreMET tasks, rolling out on April 13. “This is something coming in with high demand and a lot of people are quite excited about this. Staff will be now able to call a PreMET via their desktop, rather than having to call communications, saving valuable time. The staff will be able to call directly, with the right patient information,” explained Megan Farrell, ICT Support for Medtasker. Elise Sutton, Clinical Deterioration and Resuscitation…
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Egg-cellent time at the Children’s Ward
Easter has arrived early at Northern Hospital Epping Children’s Ward. Families were delighted with a special visit from Harcourts Real Estate, who donated bundles of chocolate eggs to eager children awaiting the arrival of the Easter bunny. Harcourts Director and Auctioneer Tony Lombardi said it was a humbling experience. “We are just trying to give back to the community that serves us so well,” Tony said. “It’s an extremely humbling experience to walk through and see some of the kids. It’s a little bit gut wrenching but at the same time it is great to see a little smile on…
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EMR team visits sites across Northern Health
The EMR team has commenced site visits with walk-throughs to see workflows in practice and to learn more about ward and location layouts to start equipment planning. The team was pleased to meet with clinical staff and answer questions about the EMR. Gladys Thomas, EMR Clinical Documentation Analyst, said, “It was great to see the excitement and engagement of staff.” The team visited all sites including Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre, Craigieburn Centre and Northern Hospital Epping and saw pharmacy departments, radiology, perioperative areas, women’s health clinics, ED, ICU, NICU and many inpatient wards. Sarai Abel, EMR Applications Lead, said she…
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Key role of pharmacists at the pre-admission clinics
In November 2020, Northern Health trialled a 12 week program to have a pharmacist present in the pre-admission clinics. The trial was led by Jeff Khoshaba, Theatre Pharmacist, who co-leads the team of surgical pharmacists. “In the pre-admission clinics, there are a large number of high-risk patients that are seen weekly at Northern Health, in preparation for them to come for their elective surgery. If there are no pharmacists at the clinic, it can lead to medication errors at admission,” Jeff explained. The idea for the trial came after a gap was identified and the team aimed to address that…
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First Quarterly Staff Recognition Awards for 2021
On Friday, our first Quarterly Staff Recognition Awards Ceremony for 2021 was held online, with our staff showing incredible support and admiration for their colleagues after submitting almost 100 nominations. Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive opened the virtual presentation and said through these Awards we recognise staff for their hard work and dedication to our patients, staff and community. “The award winners today are staff who exemplify a strong and positive workplace culture and commitment to our patients,“ said Mr Sivarajah. “There were almost 100 entries this time – so again the judging panel has had a difficult task in deciding…
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Standard 4: What you need to know
In the lead up to organisation wide Accreditation from 24-18 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 Vinod Chellaram, Director of Pharmacy, about Standard 4: Medication Safety “Everyone has a role to play in medication safety at Northern Health,” Vinod said. “The patient is the central focus in medication management and all clinicians are responsible for working collaboratively to ensure the patient receives safe and effective care. The patient/carer is always involved in…