2015 Awards – Round 1

Dr Douglas Travis, Anne Marie Southcott, Mickael Aljian, Jenny Gore, Dr Ian Kronborg, Mr Bill Renwick, Natalie Smyth, Julia Firth, Emily Sanders and Nora Refahi

– Across Western Health

This group meets monthly and raises issues and wins regarding the development of outpatient clinics process and improvements to access. What is impressive in the continuous attendance and input from all areas and it is very useful having women’s and children’s and allied health representation so that processes can be the same or similar making it easier for patients who may attend multiple areas. It is excellent having the recent addition of Nora Refahi to the team, to bring a consumer perspective. This group really helps to drive and instigate the many changes that have taken place over the last couple of years and is a great example of the best care framework in action.

A few years ago, approximately 18,000 to 20,000 referrals were in filing cabinets in Adult Specialist Outpatients. Whist all patients were waitlisted on IPM the actual referral details were not scanned or in BossNET. So if information was needed someone had to come and look in the filing cabinets. This also led to the potential for lost referrals, or unnecessary duplicate referrals being sent in. After a concentrated improvement initiative within Adult Specialist Clinics and Health Information, this is no longer the case. As a result of new processes where all referrals are being scanned on receipt, the GP’s now don’t repeat referrals as when they call the details of the referral are able to be brought up. If a duplicate referral is sent, when the referral management team look up the patient on BoSSNET, they can see if a referral already exist and not enter a duplicate referral. At times GP’s also call the GP liaison, and so they are now also able to see if referrals for an individual patient are in the system or not. This change has also made implementation of the Department of Health Access Policy easier. We are able to track referrals and monitor the KPI’s in a way that would be impossible if we still had the physical filing cabinet system. As Jade West (Team Leader Referral Management Centre Adult Specialist Clinics) commented – It was almost like “where’s Wally”, and it is so much better to be confident that we can find a patients referral and their details. Bernie O’Shannassy from the Health Information team said “it was a really big job to scan all the referrals into the system, but now that it is done we can see the benefits for all. Everyone worked together to work out the best way to get this done”

– The Williamstown Hospital

Under the guidance and support of their NUM Melanie Wityk, the Nursing Team on Lower GEM at Williamstown Hospital continue to excel in their delivery of high quality nursing care. They are a diverse, welcoming, professional group of staff that embrace change and continually strive to achieve better patient outcomes. Some of their achievements over the past 12 months include:

• Introduction of SSKINs and a resulting reduction PI’s of 42%.
• They were the Meals Module pilot ward and have made simple changes that greatly impact patient satisfaction and the right meal is delivered for the right patient at the right time.
• Participation in a Clinical Leadership day which has resulted in ANUM’s and CNS staff taking up portfolios in areas important to the ward, developing a ward based education program and role modelling the values of effective clinical leadership.
• Completely amazing buddy nurse/preceptoring of graduate nurses and undergraduate students.
• Supported the implementation of Dining with Friends and VMAP and have been proactive with feedback.
• Nursing Staff have taken ownership to improve their annual competency data, and as a result are work together to ensure everyone is up to date. The data so far indicates they are on target for 90-100% in all areas.

Perhaps most importantly, the ward staff continuously receive numerous thank-you cards from not only their patients and relatives but also from rotating staff who do not want to leave the ward – this includes GNP’s, medical staff, allied health staff and support service staff. This group of staff deserve recognition of their outstanding work and commitment. They certainly inspire me to want to be better, try harder and give more.

Anita Haines Nurse Unit Manager and Dr Maria Coperchini Director

– All wards across Sunshine and Footscray

I have had the privilege of sharing offices across both campuses with the Palliative Care team and have witnessed, particularly since the time of our massive moving house changes, what a well-oiled team they are. The team may be small but they have had to deal with working across both campuses, managing rosters and increased work loads, as well as attending clinics, and still have kept excellent communication with each other, always ensuring that team members are coping with their workload and being flexible enough to change at last minute if a team member needs to go to another campus to help out. They always look out for each other, checking if they need help and communicate with each other with respect and professionalism, even when frustrating situations occur. I have witnessed some team members working beyond their work hours because patients have needed to see them. They have always taken the time and dedication to deal with patients’ needs first, regardless of the time of day, and often having to deal with family members during difficult times. I have found the Palliative Care team always strive to improve the experience of the patients, whether the patient just needs information for pain management or whether the patient is dying. If a patient wants to go home to die, the team will strive to make that happen. The team meet patients and their families from diverse backgrounds and always treat them with compassion and understanding of cultural needs.

They work across all wards and have excellent working relations with many ward staff who know they can rely on the Palliative Care team to see a patient when referrals have been made. In recent weeks, after the move to Sunshine, I have seen how tired and worn the team members are but they continue working with a smile, a sense of humour and focus on the needs of the patients rather than their own. They ensure workload is equally shared by the excellent professional communication they have with each other and they never lose sight that they are a team that are there for patients. Sometimes they deal with very sad cases and I am always in awe at how they don’t collapse with the weight of such sadness, day in and day out. They are an inspiration to me and exemplify what true professionalism is as well as the values of patience, compassion and respect for all.

Paul Harper, Nid Singeun, Vor Proofe and Gorica Kulukovska

– Sunshine Radiology

Each and every day they work well together to ensure that all inpatient transfers to radiology are completed effectively, efficiently whilst demonstrating exceptional patient care. They not only look after all of the staff in Radiology by providing us with inpatients in a timely manner, but also look after each other to ensure that the workload is evenly distributed. Their teamwork is so exceptional that we can tell as soon as one of the trio is missing from Radiology as patient transfers just don’t seem to be as efficient. We feel this level of commitment to patients, other staff within the hospital and to themselves as a team should be rewarded and used as an example for others to follow.

Manager Diabetes Nurse Education – Diabetes & Endocrinology Centre Sunshine Hospital

Cheryl leads the team of diabetes educators at Western Health. Among her many achievements, Cheryl started the insulin pump service at Western Health in 2004. This service helps people with Type 1 diabetes to lead normal healthy lives by allowing them to give insulin through a computerised insulin pump device 24/7. Since 2004 the insulin pump service has become the busiest in Victoria. She goes above and beyond the normal care for patients. It is not unusual for Cheryl to field phone calls on weekends or after hours to help patients who may be experiencing difficulties with their insulin pump. Additionally she has often given up a week or more of her annual leave to be a volunteer at the Annual Diabetes camp for children with Type 1 diabetes. She has also been instrumental in setting up a supportive network for 50 community and hospital diabetes educators to meet regularly at Western Health where they can network and be involved in ongoing education. She holds positions on the national board of the Australian Diabetes Educators Association and the Medicare Education Scientific Advisory Council (Medicare). She has also been an officeholder of Diabetes Australia in the recent past. Many patients and healthcare workers have been inspired by Cheryl. She demonstrates compassion in spades, values accountability, respect and aspires to excellence and safety in diabetes care.

Dietitian – Footscray

Patient X was an inpatient with us on ward 3 East for almost 6 months following a disastrous complication after an emergency Colectomy for bowel cancer in Horsham. She came down incredibly unwell and lost a lot of bowel with open abdominal wounds and major and near life threatening nutritional problems. Patient X was eventually discharged to Horsham for a combination of home management, short inpatient TPN and home IV fluid. While hardly a complete triumph, with her having the ongoing requirements of a high output stoma, a wound discharging chronically, and significant nutritional issues requiring supplementation, Patient X probably should never have survived. Part of the reason that she did survive, and the reason why I am writing this nomination, is for the efforts of several groups of people. Ward 3 East, led by Leigh McDougal at the time, put heart and soul into the management of Patient X’s wounds and psychology. The staff performed at a level that, in my experience, is as good as anywhere in the world. Their level of dedication and commitment, the skill they showed with Patient X, and the support that they showed both Patient X and her family was exemplary and I think that this deserves some form of recognition. It is often difficult to single out people within a ward structure, such as 3 East, but Leigh McDougal lead and coordinated the effort of his staff at all times. The other vital person was our Dietitian, Aurora Ottaway who spent untold hours, both paid and unpaid researching different TPN fluids and potential regimens, discussing it with other colleagues and nutritional experts at other hospitals and came up with a cogent, sensible, executable working plan for Patient X’s management through Horsham Health Service. Again, Aurora demonstrated dedication and commitment to ensuring the best quality of life for Patient X.

OT – Sunshine – Acute Oncology

Sarah works with patients who are often terminally ill, and she is passionate about ensuring that their goals and wishes are listened to and respected. As an Occupational Therapist, one of her key tasks is to identify strategies to facilitate safe, effective discharge from hospital for patients, and for them to continue to engage in the roles and activities that are meaningful and satisfying to them. Sarah’s commitment and skill in this area has resulted in many patients returning home to live, and sometimes to die, in the way that they have chosen. For example, one lady, who was very sick, was advised by her medical team that she would need to stay in hospital, but Sarah worked with her and her family on a discharge plan, and she was able to go home and spend precious time with her young family and in her own community. Although this lady passed away, her family are very grateful for Sarah’s intervention, as it was very important to them that their wife and mother could continue to live as normally as possible. They noted that because Sarah really understood their wife/mother, she was able to identify and work with the things most important to her, which made a very sad time much more positive.