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Royal North Shore Hospital Nursing and Midwifery
Message from the DONM Tracey Gray, Director of Nursing and Midwifery, RNSH
Most of you will now know that RNSH’s accreditaƟon survey planned for next month has now been postponed unƟl the week commencing May 23, 2022. With the pandemic now escalaƟng and hospital admissions expected to peak someƟme in October, it is important we are all focused on the job at hand. Whilst accreditaƟon standards are core business, our usual business is a liƩle altered just now. This newsleƩer we are spotlighƟng ward 5 East. I would like to take the opportunity to thank 5 East for their flexibility and professionalism in response to being asked to vacate their ward and move back into the ASB into ward 9A. Likewise we asked 9A to move to 5 East and at the same Ɵme become a CoVID ward. Whilst iniƟally being somewhat confronted by this, both teams accepted the challenge and got on with the job. We have already converted 8C , 8E and 8B to CoVID wards with the help of staff from 8C, 5 West and 8B. 8E staff likewise have decanted the Haematology ward into 5 West. 6D staff have converted part of their ward into a non - CoVID HDU with the assistance of the ICU and AnaestheƟc Departments to free up space in ICU for CoVID paƟents. A great deal of planning occurred last year inclusive of training in criƟcal care for staff in a number of units. This is now coming to fruiƟon. Is there anything nurses cannot do? A number of CNCs have also rolled up their sleeves and started refresher training in readiness for the paƟent surge. We will be sure to need them for at least some shiŌs. If you are a CNC or CNE who is keen for some refresher training, please let your manager know and we will facilitate this for you. The next couple of months will test us all as paƟent numbers grow. To date we remain the least affected LHD and so have been relied upon to take paƟents
from other LHDs currently overwhelmed by the number of people requiring hospitalizaƟon. You will have seen call outs for staff to be seconded into a variety of CoVID related roles. At the moment I am discouraging all but the most urgent secondments due to our own escalaƟng needs. Thank you to all those who have taken up some of these roles up unƟl now, however, we now need to prepare for our own paƟent surge so some secondment requests will not be approved. Thank you for your understanding. P2/N95 mask fit tesƟng has recommenced aŌer a short hiatus which became necessary to preserve mask supply. The program will move under the management of the Work Health and Safety Team from Monday September 20. All staff in high risk areas are being prioriƟzed for fit tesƟng. The very good news is that we have a large number of staff and family now fully vaccinated. VaccinaƟon has opened for children aged 12 - 15 and is being facilitated for the children of staff working in high risk areas. Sydney vaccinaƟon rates are growing rapidly which should stabilize the growth in cases and improve paƟent outcomes. Alison Zecchin, our General Manager has commenced sending an update to all staff so you can be kept abreast of the many changes and modificaƟons we are making to models of care and various processes to support paƟent care and flow. There is a great deal of informaƟon to take in so if you feel unsure about anything that is happening at the moment please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or any member of the hospital execuƟve. We are only too happy to help. Many thanks and remember to look aŌer yourself at the moment. You are incredibly important and very much valued.
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