September 2022

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…

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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…

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Northern Health’s Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED) has been announced as the winner of two 2022 Australian Business Awards – ABA100 Winner for Digital Transformation and ABA100 Winner for Service Excellence. The Australian Business Awards recognise organisations that demonstrate the core values of business innovation, product innovation, technological achievement and employee engagement. Northern Health is the first public health service in Australia to provide a model for patients to self-present to a Virtual Emergency Department (ED). “It has been an absolute privilege to lead this piece of work. At Northern Health, we are constantly looking for ways to provide accessible…

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What are the things that get in your way at work? What workarounds can we help remove? What can be done differently? These are the questions the Transformation Unit is aiming to answer following the launch of the next Big Idea campaign – ‘The Roadblock Challenge’. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented demands on our workforce, both clinically and non-clinically, and has led to significant challenges.  “Feedback from frontline staff has identified they love their patient facing work, yet it is the mundane things and workarounds they find annoying and complicated to navigate. We are going to tackle these roadblocks…

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Fleming Fund fellows recently visited Northern Health to observe Pharmacy and Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) services. The Fleming Fund is a UK aid program that supports low- or middle-income countries in Asia and Africa by building the capacity of clinicians in these regions. During their three-day visit to Northern Health, the fellows from Pakistan, Nepal and Timor Leste, participated in training activities to strengthen their data analytic skills, and to learn about using data to improve antimicrobial prescribing and dispensing practices in the hospital. The fellows also visited the pharmacy, shadowed clinical pharmacists on the wards, and attended AMS rounds on…

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World Patient Safety Day (WPSD) is held annually as one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global public health days. WPSD provides an opportunity to increase public awareness and engagement, enhance understanding, and work towards global solidarity and action to promote patient safety. This year’s theme is Medication without Harm: Know. Check. Ask. Yesterday, Northern Health marked World Patient Safety Day across our sites, with staff donning orange safety vests and stickers to help raise awareness of the day – and the important role we all play in medication safety. Almost every person around the world will, at some point…

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PreMETs at Broadmeadows Hospital will move from a call bell system to Medtasker from Tuesday, 20 September. This follows the success of the rollout at Northern Hospital Epping just over 12 months ago. A PreMET is a clinical review of an inpatient requiring a response by the medical team within 15 minutes. Feedback from Junior Medical Officers was that the continuous paging noise from the legacy call bell system was disruptive, particularly in the middle of a procedure or a sensitive conversation with another patient. Although PreMETs will no longer be triggered through the call bell system, the bedside call…

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Yesterday was World Pharmacist Day – a celebration of every pharmacist, pharmaceutical scientist and others who work in this field. This year’s theme is, ‘Pharmacy united in action for a healthier world’, which aims to showcase pharmacy’s positive impact on health around the world, and to further strengthen solidarity among the profession. Here at Northern Health, 118 staff make up the Pharmacy Department, spanning across all sites. The pharmacy is responsible for ensuring the quality and safe use of medicines is in-line with evidence-led practice. Vinod Chellaram, Director of Pharmacy, began his Northern Health career as a pharmacy student 19…

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