Quality of Care Report 2010 - 2011 - Wimmera Health Care Group

Welcome To Our NewOncology Nurse PractitionerGeorge Bannister’s StoryThis year we welcomed Ms Carmel O’Kane to the excitingnew position of Oncology Nurse Practitioner Candidate.Carmel is a highly skilled nurse who, as an OncologyNurse Practitioner, has an expanded scope of practiceenabling her to provide specialised care to cancerpatients. Her role includes assessment and managementof patients using nursing knowledge and skills and mayinclude but is not limited to the direct referral of patientsto other health professionals, prescribing medicationsordering diagnostic investigations and supportive care.Carmel’s appointment has comefrom a joint initiative betweenWimmera Health Care Group,Stawell Regional Health andEast Grampians Health Servicein Ararat, with the supportof the Grampians IntegratedCancer Service (GICS), toexpand Oncology services andpatient care.Carmel’s focus is to improve thecontinuity of care for Oncologypatients in the Wimmera withparticular focus on patientswith complex needs.Carmel O’Kane, Oncology Nurse Practitioner.The Oncology nurse practitioner role is also one of clinicalleadership providing specialist Oncology support andmentoring to the nursing and medical teams in Horsham,Stawell and Ararat.Carmel works closely with the Medical Oncology teamthat provides services to the Wimmera which has alsobeen expanded this year and includes Professor GeorgeKannourakis and Doctors Craig Carden and JohnSycamnias, who, together provide an increased visitingservice to the Wimmera.George Bannister is 80 years oldand lives in Horsham.In April this year, he had a cardiac arrest andpresented to the Emergency Department at theWimmera Health Care Group. Once his conditionwas stabilised, George was airlifted to BarwonHealth in Geelong where he was placed underthe care of a cardiologist. After several weeksin hospital, he was transferred to the MackellarRehabilitation Centrewhere his rehabilitationjourney commenced.After 10 weeks in Geelong,George was transferredback to Horsham toWimmera Health CareGroup’s Wyuna Wing,under the Transition CareProgram.The Transition CareProgram (TCP) providescare and restorativeservices for a short termfor older people who havebeen in hospital.The program allows forlow level therapy andsupport, allowing people tobe discharged quicker andcontinue their recoveryoutside the hospital system,whilst appropriate longterm care can be arranged.TCP services can beprovided in the person’shome (community TCP) orin designated beds (bedbased TCP), located in theWyuna Wing.When he first returned to Horsham, George wasusing a wheelie frame to assist with his mobilityand, although he was able to eat small quantitiesof vitamised food, he required a feeding tube in hisstomach.George remained in the Wyuna Wing for the nextfour weeks. During that time, he underwent arehabilitation program aimed at assisting him toregain his functional independence. The programincluded arm and leg weights, exercise bike, outsidewalks and a swallow rehabilitation program withthe Speech Pathologist.George is now backhome in communityTransition CareProgram andprogressing well.His feeding tubehas been removedas he is able to eatsufficient quantitiesof food. George canshower himself,walk independentlywithout a walking aidand pedal for19 minutes on theexercise bike. Georgesays that the programhas been very good.“I like doing theexercises, especiallywith that madGeelong supporter”(Jenny Moeller, theWyuna Allied HealthAssistant).As part of theCommunity BasedTransition CareProgram, George works out in the rehabilitationgym twice a week and is gradually building up hisstrength and endurance levels. He has made someimportant lifestyle changes and is hoping to moveinto cardiac rehabilitation soon (an exercise andeducation program aimed at preventing furthercardiac events).George works out in the rehabilitation gym under the watchful eye ofMonash University Physiotherapy Student, Alana McDonald.28Pursuing excellence in careWimmera Health Care Group Quality of Care Report 2010/201129