Nursing & Midwifery News – July 2021

From Shane

Shane Crowe
Executive Director, Nursing & Midwifery

This month is a milestone for Western Health as we incorporate the management and governance of all of the sites that were run by the former Djerriwarrh Health Services into Western Health. I would like to personally extend a very warm welcome to all of our new colleagues that work across these sites, and to all of the volunteers as well. I am really looking forward to meeting you and getting to know you.

Of course harmonising one organisation into another takes time. I have great confidence that the wider Western Health community will make you very welcome, and I am certain that having access to the wide range of services and supports, and becoming part of the positive workplace culture that we hold dear at Western Health will bring benefits to you. I am sure that in no time you will feel part of the Western Health team.

Over the past 6-9 months, despite the significant demand, increased acuity and ongoing challenges faced by all of our nurses and midwives at Western Health we have made significant improvements in a number of our indicators that are key measures of nursing and midwifery Best Care. This includes significant reductions in the:

• rate of falls with injury,
• rate of Stage 3, 4 and unstageable pressure injuries,
• malnutrition rates,
• rate of severe perineal trauma, and
• post-partum haemorrhage rate.

I know how committed you all are to Best Care and continual improvement, and it is wonderful that your hard work is being reflected in these results. My sincere thanks to you all for the role that you play in improving the care that we provide to our community. Well done! We are really heading in the right direction – and I know that working together we can continue these positive trends.

The current COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney and the spread of the Delta variant around the world is a stark reminder of the looming threat of this virus and the important role of the COVID-19 vaccines in moving us towards being able to safely live with this virus. It is pleasing that the vast majority of Western Health nurses and midwives have been vaccinated. A reminder that the second dose is incredibly important – so please ensure that you have it. If you haven’t yet had the COVID-19 vaccine, it is not too late. A small amount of the Pfizer vaccine has been made available for first doses for priority groups – so please get in quickly.

I am delighted that the new ratios for night duty for many of our wards at both the Sunshine Hospital and the Footscray Hospital was implemented on 1 July 2021. I know just how incredibly busy our nurses and midwives are, and the additional staff on the challenging night shift will go a long way to supporting our provision of Best Care and assisting our nurses.

Finally I want to acknowledge how challenging the staffing status has been over the school holidays. We are continuously monitoring the situation and I expect that this will start to resolve over the coming weeks as we start to see the impact of a number of initiatives, including the new COVID Vaccination Graduate program.  Pleasingly we have had 711 graduates apply for our new Grad+ program next year, which is an increase on previous years.

Welcome to our new Bacchus Marsh and Melton colleagues

On 22 June the Minister for Health Martin Foley announced that the former Djerriwarrh Health Services will become part of Western Health. On 1 July 2021 the amalgamation occurred, with Western Health now operating a number of additional sites, including:

• Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital A 42-bed acute hospital which provides Maternity, Theatre, Medical, Urgent Care and outpatient services
• Melton Health Ambulatory care for Day Medical, Adult Health, Women and Children’s Health and Dental Services
• Grant Lodge A 30-bed residential aged care facility adjacent to the Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital
• Bacchus Marsh Community Health Centre  Allied health, counselling, community nursing and palliative care
• Melton Community Health Centre Allied health and counselling services
• Caroline Springs Community Health Centre General community health programs

We all extend a really warm welcome to all of our new colleagues that have joined the Western Health team – we are really looking forward to getting to know you!

Claire Moody has been appointed at the Director of Transition, who will oversee the harmonisation of these services into Western Health over the coming year. This will be undertaken in a planned and considered way, to ensure that staff are engaged in the planning and implementation of any change.

Additionally Sandy Schutte has been appointed as the General Manager for Bacchus Marsh and Melton, who will be responsible for the oversight of these services.

We encourage our new nursing and midwifery colleagues to take full advantage of all the services and opportunities open to Western Health employees, including education and learning, management and leadership development, well-being services and much more. We will be working hard over the coming months to ensure that our new colleagues get access to many of our services that will really help them to provide Best Care to our patients – including access to our Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit.

New Emergency Number 2222

On 1 July 2021, the internal number for emergencies at Western Health is changing from 444 to 2222. The internal response processes will remain the same. Services or sites using 000 should continue to use 000.

This is part of a project across Victorian health services to introduce a standardised internal emergency number. Standardising the internal emergency number will improve staff recall, reduce the likelihood of a time delay to an emergency and improve patient safety.

The 2222 emergency number has been implemented both nationally and internationally. The United Kingdom adopted this number over a decade ago and several other European countries have also done the same. Across Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and ACT have already transitioned to this number, and Victoria has started the transition.

The standardisation of the in-hospital emergency number is an important change, initiated by clinicians and endorsed by the Department of Health and Safer Care Victoria. The Australian Resuscitation Council, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare all support the standardisation of in-hospital emergency numbers.

The Safety, Risk and Emergency Management team have been preparing for this change over the past few months. You will soon see new signage and other visual reminders of the change as well as updates to existing documents, signs and websites. For more detail, please refer to the Q&As on the OHS intranet page here

Click that you have Collected

Did you know that the EMR has the function to mark a pathology specimen as “Collected” when it has been physically collected from the patient? This may not seem important at first glance, however it is vital. When you right-click that the specimen has been ‘collected‘ it automatically records both the collection time and the collector.

Since EMR Go-live at Western Health there have been more than 379,000 pathology orders/specimens that have been physically collected from the patient and then processed by Dorevitch, without a recorded ‘collected time’ or collector identification!

It is really important that we record the specimen has been collected to decrease clinical risks like:

• If the exact time of collection is unknown which could lead to misinterpretation of results and impact on clinical decisions
• The potential for patients to be re-bleed (unnecessarily) because the EMR does not indicate the sample has been ‘collected’
• The blood collector cannot be determined hence feedback on results or process cannot be provided to individual staff.

This will be made compulsory soon, so please right-click that you have collected.

COVID-19 Vaccination Hub update

The long awaited COVID-19 Vaccine Management System’s online booking function is now live and can be accessed at https://cvms.powerappsportals.com/.

For more details on using the booking function, click here. Alternatively you can still call the Department of Health Victorian Vaccine Coordination Centre on 1800 675 398. Select option 1, 1, and 1.

Check out the COVID-19 Vaccination microsite to keep up to date with everything relating to the COVID-19 vaccination.

Access to Pfizer vaccine:

There has been a significant increase in the number of eligible Victorians receiving their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine over the past month. To ensure we can accommodate the large number of people who are due for their second dose of this vaccine in the coming weeks, we have responded to Department of Health advice by implementing the following changes regarding Pfizer vaccination.

• Until further notice there will be no walk-ins for any Pfizer vaccination. You will be required to make a booking by calling the hotline 1800 675 398 or accessing the online booking system
• Those who have had the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine will receive the second dose. To receive your second dose, please call the hotline 1800 675 398 or access the online booking system to make a booking.
• Those who have a pre-existing booking for first dose of Pfizer vaccine: Everyone who has already booked a first dose of Pfizer will receive their vaccine. Please attend for your vaccine appointment at the nominated time and place.
• New bookings for first dose of Pfizer vaccine: A small volume of Pfizer has been released by the Department of Health to facilitate bookings for first doses to priority groups including healthcare workers, quarantine and border workers, household contacts of hotel quarantine workers, public residential aged care workers and residents, and all other residential aged and disability care workers and residents. Bookings can be made via the online booking system or by calling the DH hotline 1800 675 398.

Changes to age eligibility for Pfizer vaccine:

On 17 June the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommended that Pfizer is now the preferred COVID-19 vaccine in adults aged under 60 years.

As a result all people aged 50-59 who were booked in to receive a first dose of AstraZeneca at a vaccination site that also administers Pfizer will be offered the Pfizer vaccine upon arrival, with reference to the ATAGI recommendation. All Western Health vaccination sites administer both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

If the person wishes to proceed with receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine having given informed consent with knowledge of the recent ATAGI recommendations, they can choose to do so.

All people aged 50-59 who walk in to receive a first dose of AstraZeneca will not be offered the Pfizer vaccine. If a person in this group wishes to receive Pfizer, they will be eligible to do so when first dose Pfizer bookings become available. If the person wishes to proceed with vaccination on the day, that person may consent to receiving AstraZeneca in line with current consent protocol.

People who have had their first dose of AstraZeneca without any serious adverse effects should proceed with having their second dose of AstraZeneca as initially planned. This includes adults under 60 years of age.

People aged 60 years and over should continue to receive AstraZeneca unless an existing formal exception applies.

Walk ins and bookings for AstraZeneca will continue without change until further notice.

Please check out the webinar from 18 June where Dr Marion Kainer and Shane Crowe explained the ATAGI recommendation in detail and answered staff queries.

Click here for more information.

Vaccination when planning pregnancy, during pregnancy and whilst breast feeding:

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and the Australian Technical Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommend that pregnant women are routinely offered Pfizer vaccine at any stage of pregnancy. This is because the risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 is significantly higher for pregnant women and their unborn baby.

Global surveillance data from large numbers of pregnant women have not identified any significant safety concerns with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines given at any stage of pregnancy. Furthermore, there is also evidence of antibody in cord blood and breastmilk, which may offer protection to infants through passive immunity.

Pregnant women are encouraged to discuss the decision in relation to timing of vaccination with their health professional.

Women who are trying to become pregnant do not need to delay vaccination or avoid becoming pregnant after vaccination.

New vaccination sites opening:

Western Health as the COVID-19 Vaccination Hub for the western metropolitan region has already established a number of high-volume vaccination sites including Sunshine Hospital, the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (operated by RMH) and the Melbourne Showgrounds. Behind the scenes, we are working on establishing additional high volume vaccination centres.  The new Melton high volume vaccination site opened in early August in the vacant Bunnings. To ensure the greatest coverage of the West Metro area we are commencing an additional outreach service in the Wyndham Civic Centre from next Thursday 15 July.  The impact of vaccine supply from the Commonwealth means this will be an AstraZeneca only service in the short term.

Second dose is a must:

A reminder to please ensure that you have your second dose of vaccine. You are not optimally protected against COVID-19 without 2 doses. This is more important than ever with episodes of outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta strain occurring within Australia. Please do not delay.

For AstraZeneca vaccine you can get your second dose any time between 6-12 weeks (after 8 weeks preferred). For Pfizer, it is recommended you get your second dose at 3-6 weeks (closer to 6 weeks preferred).

Check out the COVID-19 Vaccination microsite to keep up to date with everything relating to the COVID-19 vaccination.

Single-person Medication Check Pilot

All nurses and midwives are encouraged to complete a brief survey that will take 3 to 4 minutes as part of the Single Check Medication pilot. Graduate Nurses are not participating in this study.

Western Health is committed to improving medication administration safety, and unfortunately despite having systems and processes in place like double-checking and the EMR – our medication administration errors remain high.

The study aims to understand the factors influencing medication administration, by comparing single-person nurse/midwife checking versus two-person nurse/midwife checking.

This is the first of two surveys for this study, which can be access via this link or  the QR code (right). Another survey will be distributed seeking your experience and perceptions of the new medication checking processes following the practice change to single-person checking.

This is a really important study, as we aim to determine if double checking of medication administration is safer than single checking – and will inform future model of care decisions at Western Health.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Act engagement paper

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Act: update and engagement paper has been released on Engage Victoria. The paper:

• describes the Royal Commission’s recommendations on the new Act
• presents the Department of Health’s proposals to meet the Royal Commission’s recommendations
• asks for feedback on these proposals.

The update and engagement paper will be available for feedback until 1 August 2021, and in response to this paper anyone can make a submission.

The Royal Commission recommended that the Victorian Government replace the current Mental Health Act 2014 with a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act. To meet the Royal Commission’s recommendations, the new Act is required to be in place by mid-2022.

The Department of Health is developing the new Act as the lead agency responsible for mental health legislation in Victoria. As described by the Royal Commission, the Act will establish critical foundations for a redesigned mental health and wellbeing system. This includes people with lived experience in system leadership, as well as the entities needed to enable strong system accountability and transparency.

The new Act will support the Royal Commission’s aspirations for a system that is accessible, provides for a diverse range of high‑quality services, reflects the views, preferences and values of people living with mental illness or psychological distress, families, carers and supporters and promotes and protects human rights. It will support improved access to culturally appropriate and safe mental health and wellbeing services for all Victorians.

New Graduate Program in the Vaccination Hub

Western Health has collaborated with other hospitals in the West Metro Health Service Partnership to run an additional 1 year Graduate Program for many of the hundreds of nurses that are working within the COVID-19 Vaccination Hub that have not had a formal graduate program. We want to support these nurses to thrive and have a great start to their career, and have wonderful opportunities to work with us into the future as Western Health continues to grow.

Recruitment for this program has been undertaken over June, and over 155 new graduates will commence in the program through July. Welcome to our new graduates!

The participants will work in a vaccination centre for part of the program and will rotate into other clinical areas. There will be rotations available across most of the hospitals in the region. This will facilitate the employment of as many graduate and early career nurses as possible and give these nurses a formal graduate program to ensure that they are supported to successfully transition into the profession and optimise chances of ongoing employment.

Additional clinical nurse educators have been employed to support the delivery of this program across the West Metro Region.

Improved Night Duty Staffing Levels are here

On 1 July enhancements to the Safe Patient Care Act introduce additional staff to night duty on many of our wards was introduced.

A specific in-charge nurse on night shifts on top of the existing ratio on the general medical or surgical wards at both Sunshine Hospital and Footscray Hospital was introduced, which we think will make a huge difference during the busy night shift.

The implementation of additional staff on night duty in other areas is occurring sequential over three years, with sub acute areas at all hospitals and acute wards at Williamstown Hospital on 1 July 2023.

Benchmarking Best Care

The latest benchmark reports from the Health Roundtable that go up to March 2021 have recently been released, that show how our delivery of Best Care compares to other health services across Australasia.

In our continuing series looking at nursing and midwifery key performance indicators, this month we will look at how we perform in the area of pressure injuries.

Pressure Injuries:

Sunshine Hospital

Sunshine Hospital continues to perform well with the number of pressure injuries per 10,000 episodes of care. When compared to our peers, we are amber but nearly green.

One thing we need to watch however is that our rate has been creeping up slightly over the past year.

Well done to our Sunshine Hospital teams for this great result and commitment to Best Care!

Footscray Hospital

Footscray Hospital looks quite different. Over the past year we have had 2 quarters (or 6 months) were we have been in the red – with much higher rates of pressure injuries per 10,000 episodes of care when compared to our peers.

However the really good news is that there has been a marked trend downwards over the past 9 months, with us being in amber between January-March 2021. This is great news, and if this continues we will be green in no time.

Congratulations to our Footscray teams for this marked improvement and commitment to achieving Best Care for our patients!

New Enterprise Agreement update

Recently the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission handed down their decision regarding the dispute between the ANMF and HACSU relating to coverage. This matter had been the reason that the proposed new enterprise agreement had not proceeded to ballot and subsequent implementation. Now that this matter has been resolved, momentum will commence again.

In the meantime the Department of Health has authorised the implementation of elements of the Proposed Replacement Agreement by administrative action, to expedite the implementation of some matters on the basis that they are ‘priority items’. As a result Western Health is currently working to implement the following:

Superannuation

• Amendment to the manner in which superannuation is calculated for the period of paid parental leave and the introduction of a payment for unpaid parental leave

Long service leave

• Access to long service leave has dropped from 10 years to after 9 years. This will gradually reduce to being able to take leave after 7 years as of 1 July 2023.
• For the purposes of long service leave, unpaid leave due to illness or injury, unpaid parental leave and the first 52 weeks of other types of unpaid leave are now counted as continuous service.

Parental leave

• Can now be accessed after 6 months, not 12 months

Allowances

• Change of Roster, if prior to 7 days, 5% of base rate, from 8 to 14 days, 2.5% of base rate
• Lead apron allowance implemented for staff that are required as part of their usual duties to wear a lead apron for each shift the apron or part thereof the lead apron is worn.
• Qualifications allowances introduced for staff that are required to hold a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment if they are not already receiving a higher qualification allowance.
• Defence Service ‘top up’ allowance implemented to make up pay difference
• Special Disaster leave introduced, whereby 3 days of paid leave for fire and flood if personal leave is not available.

Education sessions will be held shortly for nursing and midwifery managers on the changes in the new enterprise agreement.

New Western Health email signature

An email signature is an important tool for Western Health staff to communicate with both internal and external email recipients.  A consistent and standardised Western Health email signature has been developed to communicate a professional representation of the Western Health brand which aligns with the health service’s values.

Western Health serves a diverse community, and the email signature template promotes equity, inclusion, and Aboriginal Health that:

• Reinforces Western Health’s values to staff, consumers, volunteers and stakeholders.
• Promotes Western Health externally as an inclusive and safe organisation and, potentially, workplace of choice.
• Provides consistent branding across the organisation.

Western Health has a strong commitment to equity and inclusion seen in the focus of areas of:

• People with a disability,
• People that identify as LGBTIQ+,
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Health communities,
• Cultural and Linguistic diversity.

Together with the Strategic Direction “We care for our people” outlined in Western Health’s Strategic Plan, this commitment is reflected in Western Health’s new email standard by:

• The inclusion of flags representing our diverse community
• The statement “your Culture | your Ability | your Identity – We welcome you at Western Health”.

The Western Health’s new email signature template must not be added onto with individual campaigns or discretionary amendments, as it is important that the Western Health email signature communicates a consistent, shared and united organisational message.

Other than entering personal information and contact details, any modifications to the email signature template are only permitted to be made at an organisation-wide level by Public Affairs.

Details will be sent around shortly on how to incorporate the new template into your own email signature.

NAIDOC Week 2021

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia between 5-11 July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself. Find out more about the origins and history of NAIDOC Week.

This year at Western Health we celebrated NAIDOC at Sunshine Hospital on 8 July. The event was opened with a Welcome to Country, and Robert Champion, a Gubrun, Kokatha and Mirning man, living and making music in Narrm (Melbourne) performed.  His performance wove together contemporary folktales and country ballads, creating unique moments of song and storytelling, and enthralling audiences with their warmth, poignancy and humour.  Our Chief Executive Russell Harrison spoke about NAIDOC Week, its theme and its importance to the Aboriginal community.  In addition, he launched Western health’s Inclusion statement.

Western Health also recently committed to significantly increase the dedicated resources that we have available to support our Aboriginal communities. This includes:

• additional Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officers, to ensure that all sites are covered and an on-call service can be provided on evening and weekends
• A Research Fellow in Aboriginal Health position is included to facilitate evidence based practice and to design, evaluate and publish research in Aboriginal health.
• A new Journey Walker position, which will focus on the factors which impact on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients which may delay discharge or result in re-presentation. Such factors may include access to housing, social support, post discharge general care.
• Administration Assistant position to support the work of Wilim Berrbang.

The current Aboriginal Health Cultural Safety Plan 2019-21 is due to finish up at the end of this year, and work is commencing soon to develop a Cultural Safety Plan for 2022- 2025 with extensive consultation panned with external stakeholders, local Aboriginal services, Western Health staff and the Aboriginal community. To support this process and effective consultation, an Aboriginal Consulting Company will be engaged to facilitate the development of the next Cultural Safety Plan.

Innovation Acceleration Program 2021

The Innovation Acceleration Program (IAP) has been established to encourage innovation and inventorship between Western Health and researchers at the University of Melbourne. This exciting opportunity links compelling problems and unmet needs from the health sector with world-class research and commercialisation expertise at the University.

Western Health and the University of Melbourne are pleased to announce that the 2021 Innovation Acceleration Program will be formally launched on 07 July 2021 at 12:00pm.

If you are interested in joining our Western Health colleagues to find solutions to important clinical or health-based problems, we are here to help make the connection. We will match research expertise with selected problems, bringing Western Health employees and University research groups together to form project teams to take part in a 3-month intensive, mentoring and development program culminating in a pitch for funding to develop your research solution.

For further information, please contact:

• Western Health: Bill Karanatsios, Research Program Director: 8395 8073

University of Melbourne: Ruth Park-Jones, Business Development Director: 0434 936 505

Flu Vax 2021 Campaign

The Flu Vax program for Western Health staff has been extended until 30th July, 2021. 

Declaration

If you’ve been vaccinated at another hospital, by your GP or elsewhere, please complete a declaration form online. To decline the vaccination, you must complete a declaration form online or print a hard copy and return WHInfectionPrevention@wh.org.au .

Staff who have not yet had their Influenza Vaccination will be able to receive it at the following sites:

Footscray Hospital
Infection Prevention Office (Level 1 Pathology)
Monday-Friday
2-3pm

Sunshine Hospital
Staff Clinic (Level 2 via Lift 5 or 6)
Monday- Friday
2-3pm

Thank you for choosing to get vaccinated to keep yourself, your family and community safe. Make sure you proudly display your Flu Vax’d 2021 sticker on your name badge!

Timing with the COVID-19 Vaccine

For most people the period of time is now 7 days between a flu and COVID-19 vaccine.

Medicare card and Employee number

A reminder that this year you are required to have your Medicare card details and employee number with you when presenting for vaccination. For the first time, all flu vaccinations are recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

New Home Birthing Guidelines released

Safer Care Victoria recently released three key guidelines to support maternity and neonatal care providers – all developed by teams of experts and informed by public feedback.

Homebirth

Public and private health services are encouraged to further develop continuity of care models and consider homebirth services for women who are suitable.

This guidance will help services develop or expand safe homebirth programs, which may result in less intervention and improve the experience for women. It includes practical advice on assessment, management and guidance on escalation of care.

Download the guidance 

Water for labour and birth

Health services and practitioners are encouraged to ensure that women have the option of water use during labour and if appropriate, water birth.

This guidance provides practice advice for practitioners to support, sustain and expand the use of water for pain relief in labour, and if appropriate to birth in water.

Download the guidance

Safe infant sleeping 

This guidance will help you provide consistent advice to new parents about how to reduce the risks of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy (SUDI) through safe sleeping practices.

It provides an easy to use quick reference guidance for maternity and neonatal services, general practices and maternal and child health services. It includes:

• the importance of modelling recommended safe infant sleeping practices in your health service
• provision of verbal and written information to parents, extended family and other caregivers on topics such as sleep position, safe sleeping environment, co-sleeping and high-risk infants
• identification of infants who are more at risk when three kinds of risk factors are present: vulnerability, age and environment.

Download the guidance

New Footscray Hospital Emerging

In late June the Schematic Design phase of the project concluded. This is the first of three major Design Development phases, and has consisted of over 180 user-group and reference group meetings covering all of the different areas and departments planned for the new hospital. There has been a huge number of nurses involved in the process, and their feedback and contributions have been extremely valuable.

There has been great progress made, and most departments and areas will now have a really good understanding of how patients, staff and visitors will move through the space.

On the site, excavations are well and truly underway, with earth works and rock removal occurring. The building itself has started to emerge out of the ground in some areas of the site.

At the end of July the New Footscray Hospital Team will receive a submission from Plenary Health that pulls together all of the feedback and updates from Schematic Design for review and sign off. This will then form the basis for the next stage, which is Detailed Design which is scheduled to commence in September. This stage lasts almost 12 months, and will see the building of room prototypes to replicate the spaces, materials and finishes.

For more information please visit the New Footscray Hospital microsite.

SHED redevelopment complete

On 25 June practical completion for Stage 3 of the Sunshine Hospital Emergency Department (SHED)
expansion was achieved and the new Resuscitation Area, Digital Imaging Suite and Behavioural Assessment Unit were handed over on that day.

Clinical services are scheduled to commence:

• New Resuscitation Area – 18th August, 2021
• Ground Floor X-Ray Room – 25th August, 2021

Clinical service commencement will be supported by an eight week transitioning and commissioning period.

A commencement date for clinical services in the Behavioural Assessment Unit is subject to government funding and is yet to be determined.

Building works have been designed to consider the current pandemic with the installation of two negative flow rooms and a Class-N negative pressure room with direct external ambulance entry point. The new resuscitation area will also have bariatric capabilities with a bariatric overhead ceiling hoist.

The addition of the Digital Imaging Suite co-located inside the Emergency Department, will reduce patient transfer times and assist the busy workload of our emergency and radiology staff, while improving the patient experience.

SHED staff will be provided with training and
orientation relevant to their practice and all other staff will be invited to complete WeLearn modules and attend a guided tour.

Site of new Melton Hospital announced

The new Melton Hospital is another step closer, with a preferred site identified for the new hospital which will be operated by Western Health.

Minister for Health Martin Foley announced on 4 July that land at 245-267 Ferris Road, Cobblebank has been selected as the site for the new 24-hour hospital.

Outlined in the Toolern Precinct Structure Plan, the site is located within the future Cobblebank Metropolitan Activity Centre and close to the Cobblebank train station, community sports and recreation facilities, and close to the Western Freeway.

Planning will include how the new Melton Hospital will link with services at other public hospitals in the western region – including Sunshine Hospital and the $1.5 billion new Footscray Hospital.

The new hospital will boost access to the very best specialists and deliver excellent patient care for locals in the growing and diverse communities of Caroline Springs, Rockbank, Melton Central and Bacchus Marsh.

The vacant land for the proposed facility is privately owned and in the process of being acquired.

Bowel Chart documentation in iView

A new enhancement to EMR documentation has been introduced recently, with “Bowel Chart” added to Interactive View and Fluid Balance.

To utilise this addition, clinicians should first customise their iView Navigator Bands to pull the Bowel Chart into view.

Clinicians can then follow the graphic (pictured right) to update Bowl Chart documentation:

1. New “Bowel Chart” in the “Interactive View and Fluid Balance” tab of the Table of Contents
2. Bowel Chart has its own navigator band – for ease of use.
3. Select “Yes” or “No”. Additional questions will be displayed depending on what you select here.

Complete during each shift as part of your patient assessment and review

Sign off as usual with the green tick once complete

Bowel Chart has also been added to the TPN Adult View flowsheet in Results Review.

For further information on this workflow please see the QRG.

PCA Bolus Only Infusion Documentation in the EMR

A simplified and streamlined workflow for PCA Bolus Only Infusion documentation in the EMR is now in place, and we urge all nursing and midwifery staff to familiarise themselves with this streamlined process.

While the workflow for Commencing a PCA Infusion via the Medication Administration Wizard (MAW) remains unchanged, the ongoing PCA Infusion Assessment and Observations documentation has been enhanced.

Once the PCA Bolus only Infusion has commenced, nurses and midwives will now navigate to Interactive View and select the Pain Management View band and PCA sub-band.

From here you will be able to document all ongoing PCA Infusion under:

• PCA Settings
• PCA Verification
• PCA Assessment

There are no changes to workflows for ‘Commencement of a New Bag’ and ‘Completion of PCA infusions’.

By following this streamlined workflow, clinicians can ensure we continue to provide the best care for our community.

For more information on this streamlined workflow please visit the Digital Health information site to view the updated QRG (Infusions – Commencing Analgesia Infusions (APMS) – Nursing / Midwifery) and the new workflow training video.

Reminder to document Diet Orders in the EMR

On admission all allergies, intolerances, and adverse reactions (including those to foods) are to be verified by nursing, midwifery and clinical staff. This information is entered into the EMR which will interface with CBORD (the electronic food and nutrition management system) via an allergy order to restrict food and fluids to patients with known allergies.

Nurses and midwives are then required to update diet orders in a timely manner to ensure this updated information is available to Food Services for timely provision of patient meals.

Diet orders in the EMR are the single source of truth.

These orders communicate directly with the menu management system and provide the most up to date information for clinicians and Food Services alike.

Using a different source of truth –such as paper forms- creates risks to patient safety, as the diet may have been downgraded or altered in another way, creating confusion over which diet order is the most up to date.

By ensuring everyone only fills out diet orders on the EMR we can ensure our patients are receiving the most appropriate meal and fluids.

The Monitoring and Performance (MaP) report conveniently displays this information for the whole ward.

Prior to the distribution of meals to patients, the Nurse/Midwife-in-Charge must cross check the meals delivered to the ward against the MaP report to ensure that there have been no changes to diet orders since the tray tickets were printed.

If you are unsure on any EMR diet order workflows please see this Quick Reference Guide: Clinical Care – Diet Order (wh.org.au)

Short Courses registrations open

A list of the short courses currently scheduled to run until the end of August. Currently the courses are being run via Zoom sessions due to the COVID-19 Victorian outbreak, but this may revert back to face-to-face in the future. As such these course have limited numbers.

Places are limited so register early to avoid disappointment. Registrations close five working days prior to course commencement date.

July 2021

Neuroscience Study Day
Course Date: Monday 12 July
Vacancies: 20
Location: Sunshine Hospital

Night duty education – all staff welcome
Topic: Disability Awareness
Course Date: Tuesday 13 July
Time: 2100 – 2200
ZOOM session – Zoom link on Welearn

Wound Care – Vac therapy Study Day
Course Date: Wednesday 14 July
Vacancies: 16
Location: Footscray Hospital

Refugee & Asylum Seeker Study Day
Course Date: Friday 16 July
Vacancies: 22
Location: Sunshine Hospital

Male catheterisation 
Course Date: Tuesday 20 July
Time: 0830 – 1230
Vacancies: 10
Location: Footscray Hospital

Male catheterisation 
Course Date: Tuesday 20 July
Time: 1300 – 1700
Vacancies: 10
Location: Footscray Hospital

Deteriorating patient Study Day (new course)
Course Date: Friday July 23
Vacancies: 18
Location: Sunshine Hospital

August 2021

Renal study day – Advanced Haemodialysis
Vascular study day
Course Date: Tuesday 3 August
Vacancies: 9
Location: Sunshine Hospital

Wound Care – Vac therapy Study Day
Course Date: Wednesday 4 August
Vacancies: 17
Location: Footscray Hospital

Night duty education – all staff welcome
Topic: Diabetic update
Course Date: Wednesday 11 August
Time: 2100 – 2200
ZOOM session – Zoom link on Welearn

CVAD Workshop – how to access PICCs,
CVCs and Portacaths 
Course Date: Thursday August 12
Vacancies: 14
Location: Sunshine Hospital

Enteral Feeding Study Day
Course Date: Monday 16 August
Vacancies: 19
Location: Footscray Hospital

Aboriginal health –
Our history, Our hospital, our future
Course Date: Tuesday 24 August
Vacancies: 23
Location: Sunshine Hospital

Wound care – Pressure injury study day
Course Date: Wednesday 25 August
Vacancies: 10
Location: Sunshine Hospital

Emerging Evidence

The Western Health Library Service is a great source for locating the latest nursing and midwifery related evidence based practice and research. The COVID-19 articles below are available open access.

• COVID-19 vaccination intention in the first year of the pandemic: a systematic review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2021: July 6 Full text (Australian)
• Utilization of telehealth for outpatient diabetes management during COVID-19 pandemic: how did the patients fare?  Internal Medicine Journal. 2021: July 6 Full text  (Australian)
• Patient satisfaction and acceptability with telehealth at specialist medical outpatient clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Internal Medicine Journal. 2021: July 2 Full text  (Australian)
• Hand hygiene compliance of healthcare workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A long-term follow-up study. American Journal of Infection Control. 2021: June 25 Full text
• Intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, and mortality among patients with type 1 diabetes hospitalized for COVID-19 in the U.S. Diabetes Care.2021: June 22 Full text
• Rapid implementation of telehealth in geriatric outpatient clinics due to COVID-19. Internal Medicine Journal. 2021: June 18 Full text (Australian)
• Evaluation of the knowledge of operating room nurses of preventive practices for protection against COVID-19. Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing. 2021: June Full text
• Adaptation of independent midwives to the COVID-19 pandemic: A national descriptive survey. Midwifery. 2021: March Full text

New eBook Titles

• Acute pain management: a practical guide. 5^th ed. CRC Press, 2021
  With a focus on practical acute pain management in adults in the hospital setting, this book provides health professionals with simple and practical information to help them manage patients with acute pain safely and effectively. Combines evidence-based information with practical guidelines and protocols. Covers the pharmacology of opioids, local anaesthetics, and nonopioid and adjuvant analgesic agents. Discusses management of acute pain in both surgical and nonsurgical acute pain settings including in patients with spinal cord or burns injuries and selected medical illnesses.
• McKenna’s drug handbook for nursing and midwifery: Australia and New Zealand. 9^th ed. Wolters Kluwer Health Australia, 2021.
  Fully updated for its 9th edition, McKenna’s Drug Handbook for Nursing and Midwifery gives clear guidance for safe and effective drug administration. This essential handbook for students and practitioners includes over 1100 drug profiles and provides best-practice advice and information on: – each drug’s characteristics and available forms; – indications and dosages, actions, adverse reactions, interactions and contraindications; – pregnancy risk categories and sports risk indicators; – care considerations and patient teaching.

Please note: these eBook title links (on-site) should take you seamlessly to the full text of the eBook. Off-site or home access requires free library membership. If you are not a member you can Join Online. For more information Click on our FAQ page.

Visit the library’s Intranet website, or ring the library to speak with a Librarian: 8395 8036 or 8345 6655. Working from home? Visit the Library Internet site.