This year, there have been a number of nursing and midwifery achievements that I have been proud of.

The first would be the Graduate Nurses and Midwives Quality Projects, with over 130 projects completed and their posters displayed in the corridors at the Northern Hospital. There was real depth within these projects, and they provided a good insight into quality and safety issues that these graduates had identified. But in addition, there was also a demonstration of some really innovative ideas that have now been embedded into practice.

This year there was an increased number of  nurses and midwives that were involved in Research Week, and I was really impressed with the quality of the research that they had been involved in. This is a significant increase compared to last years and shows the progression of nursing and midwifery research at Northern Health.

Nurses and midwives have continued to demonstrate leadership within many projects across the organisation. This includes the flu immunisation campaign, the work with strengthening Northern Health’s response to family violence, transition to the new ICU and the significant work that has occurred in our sub-acute section with reducing falls and pressure injuries just to name a few.

The nursing and midwifery education team have continued to develop and deliver new education programs with three new STEP programs developed and an increasing number of post graduate programs offered.

I believe that is one of the many reasons why we are attracting high quality nursing staff to Northern Health. We currently have a waiting list of nurses who would like to work here.

Another highlight is the scholarships that have been offered to nurses, with the help of the Northern Health Foundation and Health Professional Bank. Twenty nurses attended Safer Care Victoria conference ‘Giant Steps’, and we recently had an opportunity to hear about the lessons they learnt.

We have many nurses and midwives participating and are the project leads  for Safer Care Victoria collaborative. This includes delirium, preventing readmission following paediatric tonsillectomy, reducing third and fourth degree tears and reducing still births. Their leadership within these important projects which are already demonstrating and improvement for our patients has been impressive.

I was pleased to see Prof Brian Dolan at Northern Health three times this year to facilitate and lead discussion about not only how we can improve the patient experience, but also about how we can all have a greater awareness about how we work as a with our colleagues. There was significant positive feedback from Brian about our staff, and he really engaged and inspired them.

Next year is a significant , with 2020 being declared the International Year of the Nurse. I am looking forward to organising numerous events and celebrations with nurses and midwives across Northern Health.

Have a great holiday period!

Debra Bourne
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer