Dementia team wins nursing award
A Victorian nursing team that improved the hospital experience of patients with dementia has won the Team Innovation category at the 2013 HESTA Australian Nursing Awards.
A Victorian nursing team that improved the hospital experience of patients with dementia has won the Team Innovation category at the 2013 HESTA Australian Nursing Awards.
Clinical nurse consultant, Kathy Kirby (pictured), and her team at Western Health, won the award for their work in training non-clinical hospital staff and volunteers about dementia and how to communicate with patients with dementia.
The Team Innovation Award recognises nurses, midwives, personal care attendants or assistants in nursing who have introduced innovation in the workplace to improve clinical practice and patient care.
Ms Kirby and her team established the Understanding Dementia program that sets out to bolster non-clinical staff knowledge about dementia and established a volunteer team to support patients who have a cognitive impairment.
“Dementia is a serious health issue, with the number of Victorians with the disease expected to increase by 400% to 94,000 by 2050,” Ms Kirby said.
“Patients coming into hospital with dementia and delirium are at high risk of experiencing adverse clinical events as a result of their cognitive impairment.
“We wanted to ensure all staff in our health service was trained and confident in communicating with patients with dementia.”
HESTA chief executive, Anne-Marie Corboy, congratulated the winners of each category.
“The judges had a difficult decision to make, with hundreds of excellent nominations and 13 outstanding finalists. The winners are a credit to the nursing profession and their organisations. We’re proud to honour these exceptional individuals and teams,” Ms Corboy said.
The winners of the 2013 HESTA Australian Nursing Awards were announced at an awards dinner in Melbourne last Thursday,
Ms Kirby accepted a $10,000 development grant to enhance or extend the program – courtesy of long term HESTA awards sponsor ME Bank.
HESTA is the leading super fund for health and community services, with more than 750,000 members and $22 billion in assets. More people in health and community services choose HESTA for their super.
To learn more about the awards, visit www.hestaawards.com.au
