Integrated Community Nursing
trial underway
By Senior Portfolio Manager, Planning and Funding,
Mike Agnew.
Seventeen General Practices across the
Western and Eastern Bay have signed up to
test a new model of care which will see nurses
in those practices doing routine post-op wound
care, freeing up District nurses to focus on
more complex cases within the community.
Staff in pyjamas say “Let's Get Moving"
By Tauranga Hospital Nurse Practitioner Older
Adults, Rosie Winters.
Staff in the Medical Wards and APU
(Admissions Planning Unit) at Tauranga
Hospital donned their PJs last month to launch
the Let’s Get Moving campaign. The initiative
is based on the #endPJparalysis movement
which began in the UK.
We wanted to start a conversation about the impact even a few
days in bed can have on reducing muscle strength and increasing
the risk of complications for patients, particularly for older patients
in hospital. Our main aim was to promote the importance of getting
patients up and dressed and staying active while in hospital to
prevent deconditioning.
Feedback from patients was very positive particularly from those who
were involved in the ward based activity sessions. The experience of
wearing pyjamas to work was more challenging for staff.
One of our staff said how unmotivated she felt because she was
wearing her pyjamas. It brings home the psychology of clothes.
We’ve used this as an opportunity to talk to patients about being
conscious of their activity levels each day.
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[QWTENQVJGUQHHʼn
spot the difference
• loss of muscle
strength
• longer stay in
hospital
• higher risk of
infection
Green Cross Health in Tauranga and Whakatāne has welcomed
the opportunity to participate in the initiative.
It’s BOP Regional Nurse Manager Wendy Dillion says “With
improved timeliness, ease of access, expertise of our wound
nurse resources and on site availability of our doctor team,
we can reduce fragmentation of care in a safe, familiar and
patient focused environment. Prioritising greater personalized
engagement with both the patient and whānau as well as helping
to alleviate pressure within secondary care.”
Currently District Nurses deal with more than 4,000 routine wound
care cases a year; 2,700 in the Western Bay and 1,300 in the
Eastern Bay. General Practices participating in this initiative include:
The trial which began this month is part of a wider Integrated
Community Nursing (ICN) Project looking at how our community
nursing services can be reconfigured and integrated for the benefit
of our region.
The trial will run for four months to 31 January 2018 and will
help shape the way routine wound care is provided to post – op
patients going forward.
Tauranga Hospital Medical Ward and Allied Health staff, dressed in their pyjamas for the Let’s Get Moving campaign.
First Avenue, even if their practice is not participating in the trial.
District Nurses will still make home visits for those patients
who need home-based care over the test period. They will now
however, be able to more fully concentrate on higher need
cases, confident in the knowledge that those patients who can be
managed in P rimary Care have a clear and supported pathway
back to their GP, their healthcare home.
For those post-op patients in the General Practices participating in
the trial, there will be no charge for them to have their wound treated
to by the practice nurse. The option also exists for other patients
in Tauranga to be managed by the Health and Wellness Service in
• Chadwick Healthcare.
• Farm Street Family Health Centre.
• Fifth Avenue Family Practice.
• Green Cross Group Tauranga (The Doctors - Bayfair,
Papamoa, Tauranga South, Bureta, and Welcome Bay.
• Green Cross Group Whakatāne (The Doctors - Phoenix
Health, Kopeopeo, Total Health Doctors.
• Hairini Family Health Centre.
• Katikati Medical Centre.
• Mount Medical Centre.
• Ngakakano Foundation Family Health Services.
• Papamoa Pines Medical Centre.
• Tarawera Medical Centre.
Further information on the Integrated Community Nursing (ICN)
Project can be found at
http://www.bopdhb.govt.nz/your-dhb/community-nursing-
integration-project/
Practice Nurse Madelein Botes changing
the dressing of patient Steve Forster at the
Doctors Tauranga; one of the health centres
signed up to the initiative.
• quicker recovery
• maintain normal
routine
• return home sooner
• greater
independence
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With patients, once they come in and change into gowns they tend
to retract into a passive role. For the older person, walking less
while in hospital is related to a decline in functional ability. Even
a few days bed rest can cause a rapid decline in muscle strength
and lead to an increased stay in hospital and complications.
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