On Monday 5 August the July quarter Monash Health STAR Award recipients were honoured during the Senior Leadership Meeting.
There are seven award categories, aligned to our strategic intent and the guiding principles in our strategic plan. The winners are below
- Outstanding Care or Service Delivery – Debra Sariman, Team Leader in Mental Health
- Excellent Experiences – Alana Revell, Nurse in Ward 3D Lagoon (Same Day Unit)
- Exceptional Teamwork- Marylou Devlin, Deanne Davis and Whitney Lipman, Allied Health NDIS Team
- Excellence in Research, Teaching and Innovation – David Witte, Quality Manager – Diagnostic Imaging
- Improving Care and Access – Amanda Tey, Pharmacist
- Managing Wisely – Kate McDavitt, Jackie Turner, Emma Bastick & Peggy Vincent, The Allied Health CAM Boot implementation team
- In Pursuit of Excellence – Cara Hartney, Midwife in women’s and newborn
You can read the inspiring work of our award winners below:
Outstanding Care or Service Delivery – Debra Sariman, Team Leader in Mental Health
Since commencing her role as a Team Leader, Debra has demonstrated exceptional leadership in establishing the new mental health inpatient peer worker service, and in providing support and mentoring to a new workforce of lived-experience peer workers.
Debra’s leadership style is professional and compassionate. She is highly supportive of her team members and skilled at managing sensitive and emotive situations.
Debra is committed to ensuring we provide the best possible service to our consumers, their family members and carers.
Excellent Experiences – Alana Revell, Nurse in Ward 3D Lagoon (Same Day Unit)
Alana developed a Communication and Behaviour Support Profile, which is designed to promote a positive experience for patients and their families and to assist staff who are caring for a child with additional needs.
It is used in Ward 3D Lagoon for both elective medical and surgical admissions and is currently being rolled out across the Children’s Program including the Paediatric Emergency Dept.
It markedly improves the experience for children with additional needs by identifying triggers for behaviours and allowing staff to know the child’s communication, sensory and dietary preferences. We have received many compliments from families stating “finally someone cares about my child’s needs’.
Exceptional Teamwork- Marylou Devlin, Deanne Davis and Whitney Lipman, Allied Health NDIS Team
Marylou, Deanne and Whitney worked together to develop clear governance systems for NDIS patients and staff.
They have not only drawn on their expertise and shared this in an inclusive way, but have also been a central resource for other programs and external services.
They have led the way with the Monash Health and Summer Foundation program (The Monash Health and Summer Foundation are the peak advocacy body for disability) to ensure our systems and processes are based on best practice and always put the client at the centre.
Excellence in Research, Teaching and Innovation – David Witte, Quality Manager – Diagnostic Imaging
A large majority of patient allergy data from Monash Health’s medical records was found to be inaccurate and a risk to patient care.
David worked with the head of the allergy unit (Sara Barnes) to produce an excellent 7-minute video for all clinicians to enable them to classify allergy data correctly and enter it into the electronic medical record.
This excellent educational material will provide significant benefits to patients who will be able to receive medications of benefit to them, which otherwise would have been excluded from their care.
Improving Care and Access – Amanda Tey, Pharmacist
Amanda led the introduction of an electronic form for documenting anti-cancer treatments for patients.
This project is considered to have significantly improved patient safety and overall care in an extremely high-risk area.
The introduction of e-forms has enabled all clinicians to enter and access every patient’s treatment at any site in real-time, which has improved efficiency and safety and has become the source of truth for patient’s anti-cancer treatment.
Documenting patient’s anti-cancer treatment straight into an e-form in SMR rather than using paper, which would only be accessible to local pharmacists, is a step forward and in line with the current move towards EMR.
It has improved safety, efficiency and the quality of care that we endeavour to provide for our patients.
Managing Wisely – Kate McDavitt, Jackie Turner, Emma Bastick & Peggy Vincent, The Allied Health CAM Boot implementation team
Kate, Peggy, Jackie and Emma have led the implementation of CAM boots at Dandenong Hospital in inpatient physiotherapy and the outpatient department.
CAM boots provided in-house are up to 5-times cheaper than those provided by external contractors (excluding staffing costs).
Having CAM boots provided at the point of care reduces the need for patients to access an external Orthotist in the community.
The Team have collaborated with various stakeholders to deliver cost-effective, joined-up care for our orthopaedic patients at Dandenong Hospital. They have considered the needs of equipment services, the orthopaedics unit, nursing staff, allied health staff and weekend workers.
In Pursuit of Excellence – Cara Hartney, Midwife in women’s and newborn
Many babies within the NICU can be of low birth weight or acutely unwell which often means many procedures and blood tests.
The weight of many of our babies can be low, and the amount of blood required for simple tests such as full blood count can be quite significant.
Minimal handling and procedures are important, so our babies can grow and recover.
With interest in improving Newborn Blood Spot compliance, Cara ensured that unnecessary handling and testing were reduced by encouraging discussion about required tests, and the grouping of tests when the repeat Newborn Blood Spot is due.
This is in the best interest of babies and families who can be upset when they see their newborn baby in pain, making the recovery period before going home, as positive experience as possible.
Nominate your colleagues today by visiting the STAR webpage here: https://mhstars.awardsplatform.com/