With the aim to improve care provided to patients with spinal fractures, Northern Health recently held the first information sharing and practical session at Northern Hospital.

Northern Health developed the spinal management plan in 2016 in order to have a standardised approached to managing our growing population.

In line with the HRO principles, there have been multiple meetings with the multidisciplinary team, in the hope of developing a confident and capable workforce to manage these patients.

Melanie Hogan, Associate Director Allied Health Physiotherapy, said this was the first of a series of peer workshops being presented by members of the Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Orthotics teams across Northern Hospital, Broadmeadows Hospital and Bundoora Centre.

“The aim of these sessions is for staff to learn together through the sharing of information and expertise, and to provide patients the best possible care using an evidence-based, coordinated and standardised approach to the management of spinal fractures,” she explained.

Rachel Ellis, Clinical Lead Physiotherapy, added that 50 staff attended the training session, and she is hoping there will be equally positive attendance at the other campuses.

“Staff at the initial session have learned about how the other members of the multidisciplinary team manage these patients, how they can all best work together to assist each other and increase the level of skills and consistency of practice within disciplines. The overall goal is to implement a sustainable spinal management training module across the organisation to improve the care and experience of this cohort of patients at Northern Health,” Rachel explained.