2021
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Meet Dr Eda – ED Intern of the Year
Dr Eda Gungormez, last years’ intern, now a gastro HMO, has been awarded the title of ‘Emergency Department (ED) Intern of the Year’ for 2020. Her skills, and the willingness to help others, also led her to become the Intern Support Person and help the 2021 interns navigate their new roles. Eda completed five rotations at Northern Health last year and remembers how it took her some time to adjust. “I wasn’t from this hospital as a medical student – so had to quickly learn things like the layout of the hospital and the jobs and responsibilities of an intern.…
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Welcoming patients in different languages
Our patient experience team have been hard at work over the past year to develop the new Northern Health Welcome Pack. The packs are available at each bedside across our sites and available online to provide important information for patients and visitors coming to Northern Health. Included in the packs is information regarding visiting, patient rights and responsibilities, privacy and confidentiality, medical emergencies, preparing to leave hospital and how to provide feedback to us. The packs have been developed with significant input with consumers, to ensure they are easy for patients to read and understand. The new pack takes into…
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Code Red and Code Black simulations in South East Building
Two simulations, Code Red and Code Grey/Black, were held in the South East Building at Northern Hospital Epping last week. These simulations are aimed at providing staff the opportunity to simulate potential real life incidents that they may face in a new environment. The simulations also involved our partners – emergency services, Fire Rescue Victoria and Victoria Police, working together to provide a safer environment for our colleagues, patients and visitors. Jason Amos, Manager, Emergency Management, explained staff are able to put into practice the skills that they are taught as part of their orientation training to their new workspace.…
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Standard 2 – 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 Committees on what you need to know. This week we spoke to Briana Baass, Executive Director, Chief Allied Health Officer and Partnerships about Standard 2: Partnering with Consumers. Briana explained that partnering with consumers is our way of ensuring that our patients and their carers are at the centre of all the work that we do. “Patient and consumer partnerships are key to delivering person-centred care. This care…
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‘Intern to Consultant’ mentoring held online
For the first time in the Medical Education Unit’s history, the mentoring program for interns was rolled out online. There was both excitement and trepidation from Dr Carol Chong, Intern Supervisor, who explained that the team couldn’t put the interns and consultants together in a room to meet each other, unlike the previous ten years of the program. “We improvised and ran it via MS Teams. It was a very quick decision as lockdown 3.0 was announced four days prior to the session running,” said Dr Chong. More than 18 senior medical staff tuned into the virtual session to introduce…
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Executive patient safety walk-arounds – Understanding what matters
Our ‘Executive patient safety walk-arounds’ are integral to improving safety and getting the feedback from the staff on the floor, patients and their families. Due to COVID-19, the walks have been slightly modified, but will continue throughout 2021, commencing from next week. Based on feedback gathered during walk-arounds, the team monitors the improvements suggested and puts in place clear strategies and procedures to reduce risk in those areas. Debra Bourne, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, said they are a great opportunity for the Executive team, with consumers, to walk around each unit and speak with our staff and their patients.…
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First Northern Health staff receive COVID-19 vaccine
Today marked the official start of our COVID-19 Vaccination Program at Northern Hospital Epping. Among some of the first staff to receive their vaccination were Craig Field, ICU Patient Services Assistant, Rina Gaunder, ICU Nurse Immuniser, and Daniel Habteslassie, Junior Medical Officer. These staff were nominated to represent our first high-risk staff to be vaccinated as part of the new program. “Their selection was based on the commitment they showed during the challenges with COVID-19 during 2020,” said Lora Davies, Director of Nursing. With emotions running high, these three frontline health care workers were excited to be some of…
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Standard 1 – What you need to know
In 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 each Chair of the Standard Committee on what you need to know. This week, we spoke to Dr Bill Shearer, Executive Director Quality, Safety and Transformation about Standard 1: Clinical Governance. What is this Standard about? Standard 1: Clinical Governance is just the way we ensure safe, quality care for our patients. Put simply, it’s just about the processes we undertake to assure ourselves, our patients and the community that we are delivering on…