Happy International Nurses Day! Today we acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of our nurses at TPCH and across the broader community.

At TPCH, we are proud to host approximately 2,000 nursing staff who support patient care across numerous services and specialties through diverse roles in clinical care, research, education and leadership. Nurses contribute unique skills and knowledge to many multidisciplinary teams across TPCH which ultimately enables us as a hospital, to provide high quality and compassionate care to our patients. In recognising our nurses, we were pleased to welcome Metro North’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Alanna Geary to TPCH this week who met with some of our nurses and personally thanked them for their amazing work.

Today, we will acknowledge the outstanding work of TPCH nurses at our annual Nursing Excellence Awards to be held in the Dr Mark O’Brien Auditorium, Education Centre from 2-3pm. Please join us in celebrating our fabulous nurses.

This month also marks Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month in Queensland. Regrettably, domestic and family violence affects many individuals and families including people we work beside as well as the people in our care. TPCH takes the subject of Domestic and Family Violence Prevention very seriously and we have staff looking at ways we can raise awareness, upskill our workforce and prevent workplace, family and domestic violence from happening. You can read about one of these staff members in today’s staff profile.

Executive update

Accreditation peer review

On Monday, TPCH welcomed senior safety and quality leads from around Metro North to conduct a two-day peer review in preparation for short notice assessment later this year. The review team reported the friendliness and openness of all staff at TPCH, felt welcomed in all areas, and received the assistance they required. Feedback received from the review team highlighted the following areas for quick immediate improvement:

• Clinical Handover – an auditing program will be implemented to include patient identification, patient participation and goals of care
• Replace out of date patient information and the information on national standards performance boards
• Linen trolleys need to be covered (all flaps down) when not in use
• PDP compliance needs to be improved
• Mandatory training compliance to be increased.

Thank you to all the staff who gave their time to assist the review team. A full report will be received next week which will inform action plans for the Standards Committees and what can be done at local levels to demonstrate improvements.

UROC visit

This week, our Assistant Director of Nursing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services, Kirsty Leo joined Metro North Chief Executive, Jackie Hanson for a visit to the Urban Respiratory Outreach Clinic (UROC) at Morayfield. UROC provides patients with a range of respiratory care services traditionally provided in a hospital outpatient setting. Patients are seen by a specialist respiratory team from TPCH who conduct weekly sessions at the Moreton Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service’s Morayfield and Margate clinics, allowing them to receive expert care in a more culturally welcoming environment closer to home. A great initiative in improving the long-term health outcomes and journey of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

Executive Director’s planning day
Also this week, we had the second part of Metro North’s Executive Director’s Planning Day attended by Metro North’s Chief Operating Officer, Jane Hancock and Executive Directors from across the health service. The day’s focus was looking at ways how Metro North facilities can better collaborate and work together towards achieving shared organisational priorities. A very productive and valuable session.

Protecting our staff

Staff Flu Vaccination Program

To date, 47% of TPCH staff have received their flu vaccination, which still leaves a large proportion of our hospital workforce unprotected. We encourage staff to get vaccinated as soon as practicable by visiting the Infection Control team on Level 3, Clinical Sciences Building, between 7am and 4pm, Monday to Friday. Clinical areas can schedule a mobile trolley by phoning 3139 4894.

Mask wearing

A number of respiratory viruses are currently circulating in the community and in our hospital. For the safety of yourself, other staff and patients, and to prevent health care acquired transmission, although it’s not mandatory, we strongly encourage staff to wear surgical masks when providing clinical care during this time.

Fit testing

Staff are reminded about hospital fit testing compliance requirements, with TPCH’s current compliance sitting at 48%. All staff will receive a reminder from TMS 60 days prior to annual fit testing date. TPCH fit testing appointments can be made via the following link: Fit Testing – Staff Extranet (health.qld.gov.au) with sessions available Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 4.00pm, Room 1, Education Centre. If you are unable to attend a schedule appointment, please use the link received on your confirmation email to cancel the appointment. This will allow another staff member to book in the available time slot.

The fit testing team are working hard to offer additional sessions to support staff, so please use the above link to identify new available appointments. For any fit testing queries please email Shinimol Anoop (shinimol.anoop@health.qld.gov.au) or Allison Bowen (Allison.bowen@health.qld.gov.au)

What’s happening on campus?

Over the next few years, TPCH campus will undergo various upgrades, new infrastructure and building works. To help keep staff informed about campus activities, a monthly update will be provided in this message.

Optimising facility space

As we look at our community’s future health needs and services needed to support these, consideration is being given to our facility footprint and how it can be best utilised in terms of building, infrastructure, accommodation, office space, and storage. To optimise our existing footprint, physical reconfiguration and allocation of spaces may be required. This means we need to be flexible and adaptive in work areas to enable TPCH to continue providing the best possible patient care. Mapping of our accommodation and storage is currently being undertaken by the Corporate Services team to better understand our current and future needs. This includes looking at outpatient spaces to ensure we are best utilising all available areas to see patients waiting for appointments. Recently, TPCH leadership agreed that a facility-based approach would optimise outpatient care.

Capital works and infrastructure

In 2022, the Department of Health announced funding to improve the end-to-end patient journey by focusing on factors effecting patient flow within hospitals.  TPCH secured funds to create an additional six short stay beds in the Emergency Department. Capital works for this project commenced last month and are scheduled for completion in late August.

Lifts in the Administration Building are currently being modernised, with each lift scheduled to take approximately three months. This will be followed by the lifts in the Clinical Sciences Building.

Following a bathroom audit, patient bathrooms across a number of wards are being refurbished during the coming months.

Please keep your eye out for Notice of Impact emails which will keep you informed of any significant disruptions.

FAST FACTS

Because it’s International Nurses Day, today we will profile our Emergency Department Nursing team.

Did you know?:

• The ED nursing team helps treat and care for around 130,000 patients each year, which is an average of 350 patients per day.
• Collectively, the ED team consists of 240 nursing staff including all levels of nurses as well as speciality nurse practitioners, nurse navigators, frail and elderly nurses, and drug and alcohol nurses who support patients to be discharged home
• That only 18% of patients who present to the ED are admitted into hospital, and 24% are admitted to the ED’s short term treatment space
• Nurses from the Adult and Children’s Emergency Departments work with medical and allied health teams to provide a high quality care and holistic care experience to patients.
• The team has an Indigenous Nurse Navigator who supports First Nation patients during their hospital visit and follows them up in the community

One of our Children’s ED Nurse Practitioners led a statewide project to reduce the need for sedation during procedures by researching and implementing topical anaesthetic.

Staff Profile

In light of it being Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) Awareness month, we will profile Clinical Lead Social Work – DFV and Child Protection, Emma Rawlings.

Emma’s role involves supporting staff members experiencing domestic and family violence to ensure their immediate safety. This includes conducting psycho-social assessments, liaising with emergency service providers and crisis agencies, and safety planning.

Having worked in various roles within Queensland Health across maternity paediatrics, child protection, emergency and domestic and family violence over the last decade, Emma is passionate about the psycho-social wellbeing of patients, families and the greater TPCH community. She values the importance TPCH places on the well-being of staff, especially with regard to DFV, and feels privileged to play a role in ensuring the safety of staff and their families at home and in the workplace.

Outside of work, Emma enjoys skiing holidays with her family – water-skiing in summer and snow-skiing in winter.

Shout out

This week’s shout out goes to Emergency Department, Patient Flow Clinical Nurse Consultants, Rachel Clark, Petra McVey and Hollie Sibley who were recently commended by the Queensland Ambulance Service for their helpful and collaborative approach to improving flow and ensuring our patients and community get the best possible care. While these three staff were noted, we acknowledge that patient flow is a whole-of-team effort, and we recognise the work of all staff in the emergency department in achieving excellent patient outcomes. Well done!

The other shout out goes to Patient Support Officer, Merv Heka. Merv was acknowledged during this week’s accreditation peer review process for his stand out work in maintaining the cleanliness of Ward 1E, TPCH Infectious Diseases Ward. Merv’s excellent work is widely acknowledged by the ward, and he does it with such humility. Like Merv, all of our Patient Support Officers work diligently behind the scenes supporting the delivery of a high quality care experience for our patients. We take our hats off to them!

Closing thoughts

As we all get busier, it becomes more and more challenging to manage our professional and personal commitments. Taking care of our own health and the health of our loved ones is an essential part of us feeling balanced and in control, so we can come to work everyday and do our best. This week, I (Tami) took some time out to take my elderly parents to some health appointments. It was a good reminder that supporting the people we care about should be a priority, and we need to take time to look after ourselves in order to look after others. Please take care of yourselves.

Today’s quote

‘Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.’ – Jim Rohn