Nurses and midwives empower change from the frontline
10 Agust 2010
Delivering ever-improving patient care and creating better workflow for nurses and midwives has never been so achievable thanks to a new program being introduced at Hunter New England Health.
The Essentials of Care Program is giving nurses and midwives a way to look at the more cumbersome, time consuming tasks that make it challenging to deliver optimal patient care and change the way they work for the better.
Essentials of Care Program Lead Facilitator Leigh Darcy says the introduction of the program has empowered staff to take more ownership of what’s happening on their ward or unit.
“The staff can ask themselves, ‘what’s working very well and what could be improved? Are we just providing a service in this way because that’s how we’ve always done it?’,” Ms Darcy said.
“Patients are also given the opportunity to give the staff feedback on how they feel about the care provided to them.
“The staff then the have freedom to reflect on this as a team and come up with solutions that suit their patient’s needs and their team’s needs.
“The nurses and midwives are clinical leaders within the interdisciplinary team and therefore it makes sense that they should drive new initiatives to improve patient care,” Ms Darcy said.
“Essentials of Care recognises that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to healthcare delivery won’t always work. Essentials of Care accounts for the fact that every unit is different and, therefore, should take the initiative to develop their own individual solutions to a challenge.”
Ms Darcy said 75 wards and units across HNE Health have already discovered the benefits of embracing the program and what it can deliver.
“I’ve spoken to one nurse who said since the introduction of Essentials of Care on her ward, staff have become more and more open to new ideas, particularly some of the changes coming through as a part of Caring Together,” Ms Darcy said.
“Some of the ideas people have come up with are so creative. When the staff have time to think and discuss the way they do things together they develop fantastic ideas.”
New initiatives achieved by local hospitals through the Essentials of Care program will be showcased at Tamworth Hospital at the UDRH lecture theatre tomorrow (Wednesday 11 August) between 9am and 1pm. For media enquiries please call the HNE Health Communication Unit on (02)4985 5522.
Contact: HNE Health Communication Unit
Phone: (02)4985 5522