Simple addition to create better outcomes at Base Hospital

HOW important is a table?

When it comes to managing serious and complex patients in the emergency department at Ballarat Base Hospital, the answer is definitive – very important.

That’s according to Damien Geyle, ED clinical nurse specialist, who has been part of a group of clinicians creating a change in the way things are done in the department.

“We had a scribe table that was in the far corner and it made it difficult from a communication perspective to hear and see what was going on,” he said.

“About a year ago we started a project about streamlining our whole approach to resuscitation. From that is where the new tables came in. As part of the project we concentrated on role allocations, communication and crowd control.

“The benefit of these tables is to make them mobile in the room and the team leader-nurse-scribe has the ability to stand at the head of the bed and not be stuck in the corner.”

Once the need for the tables was identified, fellow ED clinical nurse specialist Hannah Ryan-West, who’s also a member of Ballarat Rotary Young Ambition, got to work fining a solution.

“I’m kind of the bridge between the two,” she said. “Our aim in Young Ambition is to put money back into the community to help the community. Working in the emergency department that’s also our priority.

“With the project Damien was doing there was a lack of funding that was vital to the end stage of the project. It wasn’t going to be a massive expense but the benefits for staff and patients were going to be pretty good.”

Jane Jens, President of Ballarat Rotary Young Ambition, said the branch for younger Rotarians was nimble and responsive to issues.

“Because we’re a lot smaller we can do ad hoc things,” she said. “If there’s a need in the community, we can just make that decision.”

Support for staff lead input and decision making at Ballarat Health Service is something that’s being encouraged as part of the organisation’s Resource Efficiency Training using Redesign, or RE-TRed, program.

“RE-TRed is empowering and training our staff to identify sources of resource waste and change what we can do in our sphere of influence to steward our resources and return them back to front line clinical care,” said BHS’ Chief Medical Officer, Associate Professor Rosemary Aldrich.