Louise Oriti, Executive Director
Priorities of the week
- NSQHS Short Notice Accreditation may commence anytime from 3 July. Please ensure you and your teams are prepared. Read on to find out more about Standard 6.
- The Have Your Say Survey has now closed. Results are being collated and will be presented to all staff in September.
Communicating safely
Communicating well with patients and their families and carers to ensure they are fully involved in decision making about their care, and that they clearly understand the information that is being provided, is one of the most important aspects of healthcare. The Communicating for Safety Standard (Standard 6) aims to ensure timely, purpose-driven and effective communication and documentation that supports continuous, coordinated and safe care for patients.
To help keep yourself and your patients safe, remember:
- Introduce yourself and your position when communicating with patients/family members.
- Ensure three point patient ID checks are occurring. This means three approved identifiers used at registration; on admission; when care, medicine, therapy or other services are provided; whenever clinical handover, ward rounds, or transfer occurs; and when discharge documentation is generated and provided to the patient/family. For example, ask the patient for their full name, DOB, address or UR number and check that the information they are providing is consistent with their clinical record/documentation.
- Ensure patients/family members actively participate in handover/ward rounds and any decisions about their care.
For more information, visit: Communicating for Safety Standard | Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
Winter Warmer
Winter is here, and at RBWH this means the annual Winter Warmer is just around the corner. On Thursday 13 July, all RBWH staff will be treated to a hot cup of soup, a bread roll and a sweet treat at the Level 6 outdoor area. The Executive team and I look forward to serving the soup and thanking you all in person for your hard work over the past six months.
Positive feedback
I would like to share some positive feedback we recently received for our Emergency and Trauma Centre team.
I would just like to thank all the staff in the emergency department for always ensuring that I am seen in an appropriate time frame. After seeing all the reports about the long waits, I wanted to share that it’s never been the case for me and the staff in emergency have always been amazing.
On a personal note…
Last Friday there was an incident outside the patient care area of ICU. I want to recognise the swift and decisive actions of the ICU staff, supported by Peter King and patient services, as well as BEMS. Great work everyone!
Today, I had the opportunity to visit the Switchboard Service and the Central Messenger Service teams in Block 7. Both teams were brimming with energy and were enthusiastic about how they support the organisation. Many thanks to these two teams for all the work they do.
Thank you, Team Royal, for all that you do for our community.
Kind regards,
Louise.