Message from TPCH Executive Director

At 5pm today, nominations for TPCH Staff Excellence Awards close, so it’s your last chance to put forward any nominations you’ve been meaning to submit. There are many excellent performers at TPCH and these awards provide the chance to recognise their efforts. So don’t miss out and submit your nomination here. More information about the Awards including categories, criteria and the nomination process can be found on TPCH Staff Excellence Awards QHEPS site.

TPCH Charlies Week is just over a month away, 28 November to 2 December. For those of you who haven’t heard of TPCH Charlies Week, it is annual celebratory event including a range of fun, informative, and reward and recognition activities designed to say thank you for all the great work you do throughout the year.  We have an exciting program of activities planned, so please get involved where you can. There’s something for everyone!

View TPCH Charlies Week program

Executive Walkarounds

During the last week, I have visited a number of departments, and attended various meetings to view and hear about the great work of our staff. Director of Operations EPIC, Karleen Willcocks and I were invited to view some wonderful new artwork in the Emergency Department’s Medical Imaging x-ray and ultrasound rooms, courtesy of a generous community donation designed to help brighten up hospital visits for our paediatric patients. It certainly brightened up our day!

I also returned to the operating theatres to view part of a mitral valve surgery led by Dr Rishen Naidoo. Thank you Rishen and the entire team in theatre 3 for welcoming me. It was great to see a well-oiled machine in action!

This week was Occupational Therapy (O.T.) Week and members of the Executive team took part in the various activities planned by our O.T. Department. This included a grip strength test (I didn’t win! Missed out on a coffee voucher!), and the O.T. Enabled Games, a team challenge testing the fastest completion of four daily living tasks. Our Executive team, ‘The Exec-ellents’ (cool name I know!) came in second, outdone by the winning Rangers in Motion team from the Physiotherapy Department. Congratulations!
A big thanks to our creative O.T. team for putting together such a fun and interesting week of activities.

Our Director Medical Services, Dr Donna O’Sullivan and I also attended the first round of TPCH’s Intern Quality Improvement Project presentations with Donna having the tough job of being a judge for the great range of innovative work being undertaken by our junior medical staff at TPCH. Well done! We look forward to the second round of presentations later next month.

This week I also attended the Clinical Research Coordinators Network meeting, where I learnt about the important work of this network, which is made up of about 50 Clinical Research Coordinators who support the coordination of numerous clinical trials and research across TPCH. At the meeting, we listened to Danielle Johanson, Nursing Director Workforce and Innovation; and Dr Michael Nissen, Director of Research, talk about their roles and vision for research at TPCH. A very valuable meeting! Thank you for the invitation.

Getting Accreditation ready

TPCH is currently preparing for short notice assessment which will commence in 2023.  The short notice assessment process requires health service organisations to fully comply with the requirements of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards and have in place processes to demonstrate compliance at any time. We need to ensure our safety and quality systems are well embedded, that self-assessments and gap analysis are conducted regularly, and our processes to routinely monitor safety and quality performance against the NSQHS Standards are followed.  We will not know which of the NSQHS Standards is going to be assessed at any one visit so we must be prepared across all standards.  For more information on short notice assessment, I invite you to read the first edition of TPCH Safety and Quality Newsletter which aims to improve how safety and quality information is shared across TPCH.

Safety and Quality Newsletter

FAST FACTS

This week we will share some fast facts about TPCH Nursing Education and Workforce.

Did you know?:

• The Nursing Education Team comprises Nurse Educators, Student Clinical Facilitators (who support the undergraduate nursing students) and the Clinical Nurse (Clinical Facilitators) (who support the new graduates and newly employed nurses).
• Nursing Student Facilitators support approximately 1,400 nursing undergraduates each year who undertake over 160,000 hours of clinical placement.
• TPCH employed 108 new graduates in 2022
• TPCH and Australian Catholic University (ACU) Clinical School partnership celebrated its 7th anniversary this year!
• The Nursing Workforce Support Unit team comprises a Nurse Manager, Recruitment Nurse Manager, Clinical Nurses, Candidate Support Officer, Administration officers and both casual and permanent nurses in the relief pool and casual pool.
• Over the last 12 months over 140 nurses have been recruited to the Nursing Workforce Support Unit, including the newest team members – University Students in Nursing.
• Clinical nurses in the Nursing Workforce Support Unit are responsible for the day-to-day management and coordination of emergent leave across the hospital. In peak times the clinical nurses can replace between 40 and 50 shifts per day.

Staff Profiles

This week we will profile Advanced Occupational Therapist, Rehabilitation and Acute Stroke (RAS) Unit,
Leanne O’Brien and Manager Strategy and Planning, Katie Tully.

Leanne O’Brien
As an Advanced Occupational Therapist in the RAS Unit, Leanne is involved with assessing and managing patients with complex impairments that impact on their ability to manage everyday tasks. This includes facilitating functional use of upper limbs and cognitive abilities, and supporting patients to return home by arranging specialised equipment and home modifications. She also provides daily clinical support to the RAS Unit’s Occupational Therapists and wider O.T. Department.

Having previously in worked in various rehabilitation positions including at the Jacana Acquired Brain Injury Centre, Community Based Rehabilitation Team, and TPCH Rehabilitation Day Therapy Unit, Leanne is passionate about supporting patients to be at the centre of their rehabilitation journey.

She enjoys making a difference to the lives of patients by helping them return to meaningful occupational tasks and routines, while working within supportive, experienced, and cohesive multidisciplinary teams.

Outside of work, Leanne is a busy mum of three teenage girls, and enjoys going to the gym and spending time with family and friends.

Katie Tully
In her role as Manager Strategy and Planning, Katie is responsible for preparing reports on TPCH’s performance against the hospital’s operational, strategic and equity plans, while supporting key organisational change initiatives and projects.

Having been a member of the Victorian Police Force for almost two decades, with many years spent as a detective, Katie has worked for Metro North for the last 15 years in various roles including human resources, organisational development, and workforce and establishment.

She enjoys variety, the challenge of learning new things and helping sort out problems, viewing teamwork as a key factor of organisational success and getting the job done.

In her spare time, Katie makes the most of living near the beach, enjoying walks along the waterfront, watching the people, kite surfers and dogs. As a novice stand-up paddle boarder, Katie is looking forward to the warmer weather so she can practice her new-found hobby. She also enjoys catching up with friends and family over a meal.

Shout out

This week’s shout out goes to some of our junior medical staff for their outstanding efforts during their recent cover of various evening, night and remote call shifts. Doctors Bridget Fisher, Meg Ellis and Jami Jarvis capably and professionally managed and responded to some very challenging and complex issues during their respective shifts, demonstrating excellent problem solving skills and a strong commitment to the safety of their patients and colleagues. Well done!

Today’s quote

“Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.” – Gautama Buddha
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

Tami Photinos
Executive Director