faculty focus
Doors open for training
There’ s more for patients and for students at Queensland’ s big new Gold Coast hospital. By Dallas Bastian
When the $ 1.76 billion Gold Coast University Hospital opened its doors to the public recently, it also offered expanded opportunities for nursing and midwifery students, stemming from its collaborative activities with Griffith University.
David Shum, acting director of the university’ s Griffith Health Institute, said that Griffith had been collaborating with the old Gold Coast Hospital in areas such as allied health, nursing, medical science and medicine, and the partnership with the new hospital would expand on that.
Jenny Fenwick, professor of midwifery at Griffith University and clinical chair at Gold Coast Hospital, said the connection between the institutions was beneficial for professional development for staff at GCUH and for the Griffith midwifery academic team.
She said that the seamless ability to provide postgraduate education, leadership and workshops had real benefits in building education, research and clinical capacity between both institutions.“ There’ s a fluid seamless movement between university and teaching hospital,” she said.
The hospital would also house new neuroscience and trauma services and neonatal facilities. Shum said that the new facilities had made it possible to increase the number of nursing student places, while another big collaboration had been in midwifery.
A further new feature of the institution, which provided practical insights into areas not previously explored, was the maternal foetal medicine unit which, Shum said, allowed students to gain“ added experience in the complexities of women who absolutely need a very high level of support during their pregnancy”. The newborn care unit was one of only two in Australia.
The expected increase in placements would coincide with plans to increase the numbers of student midwives experiencing continuity of care models.
“ We’ re really keen to look at our models of care, and move from the real fragmented models of maternity care to ensuring all women have their own midwife,” Fenwick said.
The hospital has 11 private practising midwives accredited to the institution, with Griffith students involved in each private practice. Shum said that the hospital had areas for teaching, allowing for discussions to take place on site but not in front of patients.
“ As those services come online for students, then it becomes an opportunity to have a really rounded experience,” Fenwick said.
Shum said that having conjoint appointments between the institutions“ is really helping to facilitate communication and collaboration between the two organisations”.
Fenwick said that while there were“ huge challenges” leading up to the move to the new hospital – including the transfer of equipment, patients and documentation – everything ran smoothly on the day and only one woman in labour had to be transferred. ■
Holmesglen, Healthscope launch joint venture
Plans for a new private hospital in Melbourne include funding for research and clinical placements for students.
The first TAFE-based hospital is in the works, in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. A $ 126 million joint venture between Holmesglen Institute and Healthscope will generate about 150 beds initially, with the prospect of an increase to 250.
Holmesglen CEO Mary Faraone said the benefit to the institute is the education agreement, which outlines partnerships for clinical placements for nursing students and provides opportunities for collaboration. The venture will also include funding for a chair of clinical practice to work on research and educational enhancement – another first.
“ I think the research that will be brought in through the clinical chair will also benefit our program and our students,” said Holmesglen’ s Leone English, dean of the faculty of health science and community studies.
English said the focus would be on research that is grounded in professional development, workforce development and the use of simulation in enhancing continuing professional development in undergraduates.
She said the formation of a health education precinct for the hospital was another driving force behind the partnership, and that having the staff nearby would benefit students. Experienced staff and clinicians would be able to teach and be involved in student assessment, which would help develop work-ready graduates.
“ This will allow us to expand the offering of our health sciences-related courses into the allied health area,” she said.“ It will make it more feasible for us to give the students an interprofessional experience.”
She said the synergies between health and education would enhance the recruitment and retention of nurses.
The partnership will also allow for education and support for existing staff. The Health Professional Simulation Centre at Holmesglen’ s Moorabbin campus will benefit nursing staff’ s professional development and continuing education.
English said there was also a real need in the area surrounding the site for the services provided and that the venture would create about 800 new jobs, many of which are in health.
Healthscope will provide approximately $ 106 million for the project.
A further $ 20 million from Holmesglen will be spent on modernising and refurbishing the campus. Planning approval from the City of Kingston has not yet been given. ■
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