“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it,” – Robert Swan, British author, explorer and activist.

In the heart of Northern Health, a dedicated team of healthcare professionals has embarked on a journey that transcends the boundaries of healthcare and resonates with the very essence of our planet’s wellbeing.

The Green Team is a self-organised, multidisciplinary group with a focus on improving green practices within various departments. The team involves medical practitioners, nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, occupational therapists, as well as clerical and administrative staff with a high interest in sustainability. It currently has 30 team members who operate on a volunteer-based approach, and therefore, the initiatives implemented are surplus to the staff’s own work demands.

Within the Northern Hospital Epping Emergency Department, the team has been led by various members for approximately six years, but has changed leadership, as well as objectives across this time, mainly due to the pandemic.

In 2023, the team has a number of initiatives that are recycling-focused, such as collection of empty medication blister packs, coffee pods, batteries and partially opened or expired consumables. Once collected, they are then either donated to local centres, such as the wildlife centre for consumables, or sent to established recycling centres such as pharma cycle for medication packets.

The Green Team also works closely with the Equipment Team at Northern Health to promote sustainable products being used within the department, such as paper medication cups and sugarcane kidney dishes. The main idea is to try and reduce the use of plastic, and where it cannot be reduced, try and reuse or recycle, as best as possible.

“A new project we are hoping to implement with the support of the Senior Medical Staff Association is usage of reusable coffee cups across the hospital – so watch this space!” says Esther Welsh, Critical Care Registered Nurse, Northern Hospital Epping.

One of the main objectives of the Green Team is to create awareness on green-related themes within the health service.

Moving forward into 2024 and beyond, they hope to work in tandem with Northern Health on a wider scale, so that the current initiatives can be implemented across the entire health service.

The team is also aware that some departments have their own projects and therefore, they would like to collaborate with them to help make Northern Health more sustainable in many ways.

“I think that the biggest obstacle we have is the notion that our actions are small and don’t matter, but our energy ripples all around us. I truly believe that even the smallest of actions towards sustainability can create meaningful change,” said Dr Lavania Balakrishnan, ED Registrar, Northern Hospital Epping.

For more information or to join the team, please contact NHE-GreenTeam@nh.org.au

Pictured in featured image (L-R): Lavania Balakrishnan, Esther Welsh, Ella Riley, Sara Melvin and Sarah Howard.  

Northern Health Renal Service has come a long way since its inception 10 years ago.

Cheryl Rofe, NUM Inpatient Dialysis Unit (IDU) and Epping Satellite Dialysis Unit, stated, “Renal dialysis at Northern Health commenced as a small satellite unit from the Royal Melbourne Hospital,” she said.

“Dr David Barit, Head of Nephrology, developed a case for a four-bed inpatient dialysis unit, in what is now Ward 4. As Northern Health grew, the need for the health service to have its own renal hub emerged. We now have a 12-bay inpatient unit and satellite units in Epping, Broadmeadows and Craigieburn, along with the Home Dialysis Training Unit.”

“Prior to 2013, only one patient per day, was able to receive dialysis at the Northern Hospital Epping. Support services for patients with chronic kidney disease and end stage kidney disease were close to non-existent,” Dr Barit said.

These services have now increased to support over 200 dialysis patients, and approximately 1,200 patients in our renal outpatient clinics. A record 50 patients are now receiving dialysis at home.

In August 2013, Northern Home Dialysis Training Unit (HDTU) opened at Epping Private Medical Centre.

Priscila Angeles, NUM, HDTU, says, “When I started, home dialysis had about 24 patients. Not a lot of patients were interested in having home dialysis at that time. However, we saw a significant increase in interest during COVID-19, as patients wished to have their treatment in the safety of their own home.”

Priscila believes that patient education is a key factor in assisting patients to choose which treatments best suit their needs.

“In the last two years, there have been marked improvements in patient satisfaction. This has motivated the staff to work even harder to maintain care and safety of an increasing number of patients at home. Along with Northern Health reaching 10 years as a Renal Service Hub, HDTU has proudly reached the big 50 in patient numbers!”

Main image shows:

Front row L-R: Henry Tran (Chronic Kidney Disease Coordinator) Dr David Barit (Head of Nephrology) Lucia Bento (Site Director/Director of Nursing, Broadmeadows Hospital, Craigieburn Centre and Renal Services) Cheryl Rofe (NUM Epping).

Back row L-R: Priscila Angeles (NUM HDTU), Judy Harris (Dialysis Co-ord), Aileen Tan (NUM Broadmeadows Hospital/Craigieburn Centre), Shiela Balakas (RN HDTU), Mario Besic (Renal Pharmacist), Mabelle Yosores (RN HDTU), Lincy Paul (RN HDTU).

Inset: Faridah Mercado, RN and Troy Vergara RN with a Kilmore haemodialysis patient.

Northern Health staff, visitors and patients will soon have healthier food options on offer.

In a state-wide effort to improve the availability of healthy food and drink choices at public hospitals and health services, the Victorian Government is leading the Healthy Choices Policy Directive for Victorian Public Health Services.

Through specific guidelines and targets, the policy ensures a greater number of healthy food and drink choices are on offer at health services, with the policy aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of staff, visitors and patients.

In September 2022, changes were made to all vending machines and catering services across all Northern Health sites, ensuring they offer more healthy drink options, do not sell high-sugar drinks and limit artificially sweetened drinks.

Following on from this, and from Saturday, 30 September 2023, vending and in-house food retail outlets will offer at least 50 per cent ‘green’ food options and no more than 20 per cent ‘red’ food options available. These changes are in line with the policy directive targets in offering healthier food and drink options.

Lisa Cox, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, and Executive Sponsor for Healthy Choices at Northern Health, is working with key Northern Health staff to ensure healthier food and drinks are offered across all our vending machines, catering and food retail outlets.

“The Healthy Choices Policy allows Northern Health to support the surrounding community and catchment, demonstrating the priority and benefits of health promotion. Health promotion, incorporating policies such as Healthy Choices, lead to improved and better lifestyles and decision making,” she said.

Working closely with food providers, including Northern Health’s vending machine provider Provender, Henry’s Cafe and Cafe 1231, Northern Health is proudly working towards offering healthier options for its staff, visitors and patients.

Next time you visit one of the Northern Health sites, keep an eye out for our increased range of healthier food and drink options that have been made available.

Featured image L-R: Student Dietitians Loryn Smith, Vanessa Sastra and Paris Ierino.

In a remarkable display of dedication and expertise, seven exceptional trainees at Northern Hospital Epping have achieved a significant milestone in their medical careers and successfully passed the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) Primary Exam – the first hurdle for emergency medicine trainees to advance in their training.

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 in August and an oral examination in November each year.

Emergency Medicine Physician and Co-Director of Emergency Medicine Training, Dr Raj Kathirgamanathan, says students normally start studying six months in advance.

“It is not an easy exam, it requires a lot of commitment and sacrifice. Students need to put their personal and social lives on hold and focus entirely on their studies,” he said.

“I find my main focus as an educator, at the very beginning of their studies, is ensuring they have the right mindset and circumstances to study. I often, individually or in a group, sit with every single trainee and go through their commitments, their medical rotations, whether they have a supportive family network and other aspects of their daily routine before they actually start studying,” he added.

Dr Raj has been actively involved in the training of students for more than eight years and the results have always spoken for themselves – an incredible 100 per cent pass rate in the last five years.

“It is very satisfying and I’m very proud of all the students who have passed the Primary Exam. Even though I provide them with the guidance, they are the ones doing the hard work,” he said.

“Seeing these trainees progressing in their training and eventually becoming consultants, is a really nice feeling to be able to experience.”

David O’Connell is an ACEM trainee from Ireland who has been living in Melbourne for the past four years. He works at Northern Hospital Epping doing the anaesthetics rotation.

“Most of us would have been studying since about February or March, and in the past two months really ramping it up and doing a lot of regular study and putting in a lot of hours, which means not a lot of time to do other things, like hang out with your friends, or finding time to exercise, as well as work, as well as study, as well as do other things like cook your dinner,” he said.

David says he is very grateful to Dr Raj for his professionalism and unwavering support, but also for being a genuine and approachable person in general.

“The Northern Hospital has a really excellent track record of people passing, especially in the last five years, so it’s a testament of the supportive environment and the excellent work that Dr Raj and the other ED Directors are doing,” he said.

“I would also like to mention Phyllis Fu and Cynthia Lim as some of the consultants who have been involved in the tutorials and performance training with us.”

As they embark on the next phase of their journey, these seven trainees will be going into a four-year advanced training before sitting their last exams and fulfilling the requirements to becoming Emergency Specialists.

From all of us here at Northern Health, good luck and well done!

Pictured in featured image (L-R): David O’Connell and Dr Raj Kathirgamanathan 

Northern Health is celebrating a huge milestone – in just two weeks, we went live with an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) at Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre, and Craigieburn Centre!

In our rollout, we have included device integration including ECG management, results and orders, clinical documentation and medication management for inpatients and specialist modules for ICU, Emergency, Surgery and Anaesthesia. We are proud to say that Northern Health is also the first Cerner Oracle site to implement the maternity module for inpatients and outpatients.

There are benefits to being one of the last metropolitan health services to roll out an EMR, including many lessons learnt from those who have gone before us, and we have the latest and greatest code.

The preparation undertaken to prepare our organisation for EMR go live has been instrumental in the smooth transition from paper to electronic documentation. The EMR team has designed and built more than 300 plus Northern Health specific workflows in the EMR, involved more than 250 Subject Matter Experts (EMR) to test the system within a two-to-three-week timeframe, and trained more than 500 staff in 10 weeks. This is an enormous team effort to come to where we are standing today.

“Other than thanking our own EMR team, we would also like to acknowledge our 600 plus EMR Super Users, Clinical Transition Team, Executives, and Leadership. We couldn’t have done this without your contribution and dedication to the EMR project,” said Trish Aldridge, EMR Program Director.

“I am extremely proud of the hard work our teams have contributed to in the last two years, against all odds. Designing during COVID-19 virtually, was one of the many challenges we had to overcome. Our team is strong and resilient which has resulted in a clinical system that enables our workflows as designed by our clinicians, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”

EMR support

Starting from Monday, 25 September, EMR support will be scaling back to the following level:

Date	Details
From Monday, 25 September to Monday, 2 October	EMR team to continue to support from 0630 to 2300 The help desk and Level 1 ICT floor walkers will operate from 0630 to 2400
From Monday, 2 October to Monday, 9 October	From 2 October, EMR help desk will transition to ICT EMR team to continue to support from 0630 to 2300 **Please note that ICT help desk operates from 7 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday.
From Monday, 9 October onwards	EMR team will transition to business as usual – meaning office hours only. An EMR On Call will be put in place.

If there are any urgent incidents/requests, this will be escalated to EMR On Call via the Afterhours Hospital Coordinator.

 

Featured image: Anthony Gust, Executive Director, Digital Health, Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive, Lisa Cox, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Associate Professor Wanda Stelmach, Chief Medical Officer and Trish Aldridge, EMR Program Director.

#WeAreNorthern

Meet Tilak Weerasiri, Consultant Gynaecologist/Obstetrician, Northern Health.

Q: Firstly, what’s your coffee order?

My usual coffee order is a standard latte, I’m not very adventurous when it comes to coffee.

Q: Why and how did you choose your specialty?

I actually fell into obstetrics. My main aim after graduation was Country General Practice which included obstetrics and anaesthetics. I went to England to get some experience in both. I did a six-month rotation in obstetrics and enjoyed it so much I kept on and specialised in it.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about your career before starting at Northern?

While I was in England, I got my first specialist qualification in obstetrics and gynaecology and when I returned the first job I got was as a registrar at PANCH, where I was the precursor of The Northern Hospital.

I did a few more senior registrar years at The Royal Women’s Hospital, The Monash Medical Centre and The Mercy Hospital while getting my Australian exam and full specialist qualifications.

In my first year as a fully accredited specialist, I accepted a consultancy at The Mercy Hospital for Women and The Austin Hospital as well as The Preston and Northcote Community Hospital. I was the gynaecologist at the Austin for about 15 years before the Mercy moved to its current site and the job became redundant.

I was still at The Mercy Hospital and moved to The Northern Hospital when PANCH became TNH and moved across to Epping.

Q: What is your favourite memory since working here?

One incident that really stands out in my memory was a young woman who was transferred from another hospital with a ruptured uterus following childbirth. The patient was quite ill when she arrived but was quickly resuscitated and I did an emergency hysterectomy. There were about five or six anaesthetists working on her, and she did very well.

When I went to see her the next morning she was tucking into a plate of steak and chips. That’s one thing about the Northern Health, in a dire emergency there is no shortage of expert assistance.

Q: How do you relax after a long shift?

I am a prolific reader, mostly novels and mainly cosy crime. I walk or swim for exercise and spend a fair bit of time with family. With four kids (now all adults) and five grandkids, there is never a dull moment.

Q: Where is a favourite place you’ve travelled and why?

My favourite travel destination is actually my native land, Sri Lanka, a really lovely spot to visit with loft of natural beauty and very nice people. Well worth a visit.

Medical Imaging, encompassing diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology and nuclear medicine, will become an inhouse service under the banner of Northern Imaging Victoria (NIV) from 5 October, 2023.

Radiology services are currently provided at three Northern Health campuses; Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital and Bundoora Centre, and will all transition to NIV on this date.

“Since early 2022, our project team has worked tirelessly to build the foundation of NIV,” said A/Prof Terry Kok, Director of Imaging Services, Northern Health.

“This includes the introduction of new imaging IT systems (Agfa PACS and Kestral RIS) to physical expansion of our footprint across the Northern Health campuses. This is the first phase of NIV development with new expanded services in Broadmeadows featuring a new 3T MRI and regular ultrasound service as well as an in-house PET-CT service at the Northern Hospital coming online in December 2023 and mid 2024 respectively.”

“We will also be welcoming over 170 imaging staff including new team members who are excited to join Northern Health on this journey.”

When it comes to requesting imaging studies, radiology and Nuclear Medicine workflows will remain unchanged. Hybrid printed EMR requests will be used for emergency department and inpatient imaging referrals, and paper-based request forms for outpatient imaging referrals. Interventional Radiology and procedural referrals will also remain unchanged. Both NIV and Lumus Imaging referral forms (or any valid imaging request form) will be accepted.

There will be a temporary reduction in outpatient imaging capacity during the transition phase due to reconfiguration of services. Lumus Imaging will provide overflow outpatient (e.g. outpatient CT, MRI and US scans) and PET-CT imaging support during this time.

“Our aim is to further enhance safety, quality and efficiency in Medical Imaging to enhance patient and clinician experiences at Northern Health”, said Sophie Dodson, Operations Manager, Northern Imaging Victoria.

“We have an incredible team of over 170 highly trained and experienced staff with a commitment to clinical excellence, education and research, and we are excited for this next step in the inception of Northern Imaging Victoria.”

The Northern Imaging Victoria team look forward to providing staff with further updates as we undergo this transition.

Dementia Action Week (18 – 24 September) encourages everyone to take a few simple actions to create a dementia-friendly future for all Australians.

Dementia is the umbrella term for a number of neurological conditions, of which the major symptom is a decline in brain function. Dementia is a disease symptom and is not a normal part of ageing, with more than 100 diseases that may cause dementia. The most common causes of dementia include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies.

According to Dementia Australia, around two-thirds of people with dementia live in the community. A lack of knowledge and understanding of dementia may lead people living with dementia experiencing stigma and discrimination in the community.

At Northern Health, the Cognitive Dementia and Memory Service (CDAMS) is a specialist diagnostic clinic which aims to assist people with memory loss, or changes to their thinking, and those who support them. Early diagnosis is important to determine appropriate treatment needs and to plan for the future.

The CDAMS provides:

• Expert clinical diagnosis
• Information on appropriate treatments
• Education, support and information
• Direction in planning for the future
• Information on dealing with day-to-day issues
• Links and information for clients and their family regarding other service providers or community supports.

CDAMS operates across Bundoora Centre, Broadmeadows Hospital and Craigieburn Centre, with clinics running over four days of the week depending on the site.

The program is focused on a multidisciplinary approach including geriatrician, psychogeriatrician, geriatric registrar, neuropsychologist, occupational therapist, social worker and dementia nurse consultant.

The team provides holistic management for many older clients who have dementia and for their carers. With the changing demographic of the Northern Health population, this team manages clients with increasingly complex social needs.

Since commencing at Bundoora Extended Care in 1997 with two geriatricians and a nurse working one session a week, the services have expanded and grown to meet the needs of the community. Today, there are up to 12 geriatrician sessions a week with full multidisciplinary support.

Dr Michael Farber has worked in the team for 13 years. He says, “CDAMS is a challenging but rewarding environment to work in with a very supportive and collegiate team of staff.”

Danielle Courtney, Neuropsychologist, said it was great to work in a team where neuropsychology input into the diagnostic process was valued.

“I really enjoy working with our patients who are from such diverse backgrounds, it’s a privilege to hear them share stories from their lives, during a particularly vulnerable time,” she said.

Featured image: CDAMS clinic teams across Northern Health.