nsw public health system

Ask Shaye: Rostering and multiple 12- hour shifts

August 2, 2024 by Madeline Lucre Leave a Comment

I work in a rural Multi Purpose Service (MPS) and have recently been put on 12-hour shifts for five days in a row. I’m exhausted but I don’t know if this roster is wrong.

This roster is in breach of the Public Health System Nurses and Midwives’ (State) Award and presents a serious health and safety risk for both nurses and their patients.

In specific wards, units or services where an agreement has been reached between management and the nurses or midwives working in that area,

with the assistance of NSWNMA, 12-hour shift rosters are in place.

An alternative shift pattern must be made available if you elect not to work 12-hour shifts, as 12-hour shift rosters are voluntary.

Clause 5(v)(f) of the award provides that you cannot be required to work more than three consecutive shifts in a 12-hour shift system, or more than four consecutive shifts once per 6-week cycle, when you have requested.

There is also an overriding principle that rosters must be safe. If you are experiencing hours like this, please ask your manager to rectify the roster immediately. If you’re unable to resolve the matter, please contact NSWNMA for assistance.

COVID-19 vaccine systems: a template for other health goals

December 2, 2021 by Madeline Lucre Leave a Comment

The vaccine infrastructure created for COVID-19 should be maintained for other illnesses, says health-policy expert.

Developing a global adult-vaccination program out of the infrastructure built for COVID-19 would be as profound a legacy for public health as the creation of the United Nations out of the ruins of the second world war was for international relations, says Sir John Bell, former president of Britain’s Academy of Medical Sciences.

“COVID-19 has cost millions of lives and exposed weaknesses in public health care. We have a moral responsibility to learn from it, act and save others,” he wrote in The Economist.

“In the past, it was impossible to imagine a global adult-vaccination programme. Today it is realistic. This is because the pandemic has accelerated advances in vaccine development, manufacturing and delivery, as well as the build-out of technology systems, health centres and trained staff.”

This infrastructure should now be applied to other adult vaccines and injectable medication, he argues.

“Vaccine technology has progressed dramatically. A new generation of tools will soon be available to tackle many of the most dangerous pathogens in the world.”

These medical tools will be effective not only against infectious diseases, but long-acting injectable therapies will also be available against cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, he said.

Award claim aims to protect ICU standards

April 7, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

The NSWNMA’s claim for ICU staffing ratios draws on feedback from a statewide ICU nurses’ forum.

Forum member Michelle Rosentreter, who is president of the NSWNMA’s Hornsby Hospital branch, says ICUs are not covered by a NHPPD (nursing hours per patient day) formula.

Instead, Hornsby ICU nurses aim to follow guidelines formulated by the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand and the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses.

The guidelines apply to work practice, caseload, staffing and operational requirements for the ICU.

“The guidelines are the minimum standards needed to keep our patients and staff safe,” Michelle says.

“Minimum standards are paramount in ICU because of the level of technology we use, the drugs we use and the amount of education we need.

“On average, it takes a nurse about five years to reach a level of competence and confidence needed to deal with the critically unwell in ICU.”

Michelle says that in the absence of ratios, ICUs are under pressure from hospital executives to take more patients than is safe.

“People running hospitals may lack knowledge of what is required to manage patients with life threatening illnesses. It can’t be compared to ward staffing.

“You might hear an executive member say, ‘ICU has got six nurses and only three patients.’

“But those three patients might be hooked up to over 15 infusions, have an artificial airway and dialysis as well as requiring CPR, while you have the primary nurse and another nurse helping to maintain their airway and keeping them haemodynamically stable”.

“I’ve been appalled to learn that some of our tertiary hospitals do not follow the minimum staffing standards developed by these colleges – most notably no free Team Leader/Clinical Coordinator or ACCESS nurse.

“My heart sank when I saw the struggles my colleagues are having at some hospitals, where they are not heard by their executive or  their district.

“For instance, at one level 6 ICU – the highest level – the clinical coordinator running the unit also has to do direct patient care and support junior nurses, while trying to manage deteriorating patients and respond to emergency code blues.

She says it’s time the Berejiklian government and the Ministry of Health listened to nurses and midwives.

“We need a fair and reasonable pay increase, shift by shift ratios and better conditions for work – to deliver the care we are trained to do and not to be disregarded.”