The RBWH ETC was proud to be awarded the Al Spilman Award for Culturally Safe Emergency Departments.
The RBWH Emergency and Trauma Centre (ETC) was recently awarded the Al Spilman Award for Culturally Safe Emergency Departments from the Australian College of Emergency Medicine.
The award recognises the outstanding efforts of ACEM accredited emergency departments to provide cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Māori patients, visitors, and staff.
The RBWH ETC was proud to receive the award for their ongoing work to improve the cultural safety of the department for First Nations patients and their families. The initiative has been pioneered by the Transforming Emergency Departments towards Cultural Safety (TECS) committee in partnership with members of the RBWH Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) working group.
The RBWH TECS committee was formed in 2019, joining the state-wide TECS movement led by the Promoting Value-based care in the EDs (PROV-ED) Project, and is led by proud Torres Strait Islander woman and Emergency Nurse Kiris Reis. Since its inception, the TECS team has worked to secure funding to implement a number of initiatives to make the ETC more culturally safe and welcoming. The team work closely with local community groups such as the Brisbane North Elders to ensure the initiatives they peruse make a valuable difference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
RBWH ETC Clinical Nurse Kiris Reis said the ETC team are thrilled to receive such a prestigious award thanks to the range of successful initiatives they have implement in the department.
“We are excited to announce that following a highly successful pilot, Metro North Health have recently committed to funding a permanent, ongoing First Nations Health Worker position in the ED,” Kiris said.
“This position is responsible for ensuring the ETC considers the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations patients, visitors and staff, delivering clinical care and follow-up of First Nations patients and their families, ensuring the care we deliver is culturally safe, reducing the proportion of First Nations patients having incomplete ED visits and much more.
“Our model of care in the ED has been widely embraced by both staff and patients, with First Nations patients reporting that they feel better informed and more secure in comparison to previous models of care. We want to ensure our First Nations patients feel self-empowered and engaged.”
“Finally, I’d like to provide a special mention to Laura Stephenson, Nikesh Kumar, Julie Allen and Louise Cullen, plus the entire TECS and ETC teams, who have all been instrumental in receiving this award.”
Congratulations to the ETC for leading the way in creating a culturally safe RBWH.