News

Award for hospital stroke unit

Mar 14, 2014

A program that has produced dramatic improvements to care for stroke patients has received the hospital's highest award for 2013.

The Mildura Base Hospital Quality Award was presented to the stroke unit at the hospital's first staff forum for the year.

The unit is credited with reducing the average length of stay in Mildura Base Hospital for stroke patients by more than two days. It also last year reduced the numbers of patients experiencing complications from stroke from 58 percent to only nine percent.

An average of 80 cases of stroke are admitted to Mildura Base Hospital each year and, at the awards presentation, the Chief Executive Officer Dane Huxley said the initiative had improved services for all stroke patients.

"When the decision was made in 2012 to set up an Acute Stroke Unit within the general medical Ward 3, the aim was to improve the outcomes for stroke patients right across the journey," Mr Huxley said.

"I am pleased to say this has been the case both from patient feedback viewpoint and is clearly reflected in the hard data that's collected by Health Service," Mr Huxley said.

The initiative was driven by the stroke project officer, Jo Cottrell and Ward 3 senior nursing staff Kristjan Hobbs and Bronwyn Daymond. It also had significant input from the ward's nursing staff as well as intensive care staff, emergency department staff and the general medical physicians.

The National Stroke Foundation Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management, a comprehensive guide to best practise stroke management in Australia, was also used in developing the policies and services.

"The model of care we put in place really means patients are medically stable earlier and being flagged and referred early for rehabilitation," Ms Cottrell said.

"We now have in place a system in which nursing staff provide more assertive and timely reporting of observations that are of clinical concern," she said.

"Patients are assessed by a speech therapist and physiotherapist within 24 hours and assessed and managed by all allied health team members within 48 hours.

"They are actively participating in therapy from day one and the model provides a continuous and interconnecting journey of care for stroke patients."

Some of the key outcomes for acute stroke patients under the project are:

• Reduction in average length of stay in hospital from 8.9 to 5.6 days
• Reduction in complications from 58% to 9%
• Significantly improved outcomes for stroke patients
• Significant improvement in time from referral to assessment by physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy

Mr Huxley said the level of care for stroke patients had been further enhanced by the launch of the Vicstroke Telemedicine Program at Mildura Base Hospital. It allows local physicians to link in directly with a neurologist 24 hours, seven days a week to assist in managing stroke patients in the first few hours of their stroke.

The hospital awards ceremony also named Mildura Base Hospital's two Employees of the Year for 2013, shortlisted from the monthly Employee awards.

Ward 3's Katrina Gates received the Clinical Employee of the Year award. Katrina is an associate Nurse Unit Manager and on the hospital's Nurse Leadership and Management Team. Her award was for her strong advocacy for patients and her staff and her "honesty, transparency and sense of humor".

For the non-clinical Employee of the Year, Patient Services Assistant Joanne Malic was the winner for her leadership and training of new staff, her efficiency and her positive attitude under pressure. Her citation stated Joanne was valued by colleagues for looking to improve how things are done, without compromising her standards or work.