Teamwork focus for orientation week at BHS

COLLABORATION was the key word for just over 70 new graduates who took part in a unique orientation week at Ballarat Health Services recently.

Graduates from medicine, nursing and allied health worked together through various healthcare scenarios, with BHS volunteers role-playing as patients.

Intern doctors Prashanth Naidoo and Candice Dilworth joined registered nurses Rebecca Morton and Grace Garner on one such team.

On day three of the interprofessional collaboration program – as it is known at BHS – Dr Dilworth said working as part of a team was a great way to build rapport and get to know each other.

“Working on a real person puts you on the spot getting you to think in a situation, one of the best things in practising as a team is we actually get to meet the nurses that we are going to be working with this year from day one,” she said.

Ms Morton said the simulation definitely felt real life with all the staff supportive and knowledgeable during the process.

Dr Naidoo said one of the most invaluable sessions the team had on the day was with the pharmacist – an allied health practitioner.

“We learnt how to prescribe medications safely, how to write and review our medication charts regularly. That has been invaluable for us all as both nurses and medical practitioners.”

This is the second year BHS has undertaken this innovative approach for orientation week.

All four members of the team agreed being part of this program helped them become more familiar with the environs of the hospital.

They have a clearer awareness of what is available at the hospital, where everything is, and what everyone does and who do they go to when they need help.

Marilyn Kearney, BHS’s co-ordinator of graduate nurses said BHS is the first regional hospital to conduct this method of interprofessional collaboration training.

“The concept of the program from a graduate nurse perspective is to build confidence and competence in their practice,” she said.

Throughout the week the graduates rotated through a number of skills stations gaining experience in basics such as hand hygiene to primary emergency care and cannulation and venepuncture.

BHS medical education officer Zoe Swain said feedback provided from the inaugural year has finetuned the procedures at some of the stations.

“We realised a number were focussed too much on medicine and didn’t involve the other two practitioner areas, so we changed the emphasis this year.”

By working and training together from day one, graduates from all three disciplines began to develop an understanding of the crucial role collaboration plays in providing the best care to BHS patients.