ICU staff played vital role in positive result

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Wonderful positive newspaper article from Queensland, Australia!

[h=1]ICU staff played vital role in positive result[/h]

EDITORIAL: February 7 started out as an ordinary day in the Chronicle office - until phone calls started pouring in from senior staff members at Hervey Bay's intensive care unit, telling us jobs were being threatened.

That started what I can only describe as a rollercoaster ride, for health staff, the public, myself, my colleagues and for the newspaper.

There have been claims, some of which have been spoken by Hervey Bay MP Ted Sorensen in parliament, that the information for the initial story came from the State Opposition, or from a union.

But it was staff members of the hospital who called us that day, and Mr Sorensen's comments do no justice to the people I spoke to, who were both in fear for their jobs and for the patients who would some day be treated at our hospital.

They risked their jobs just by speaking to the press.

They did so in the hopes that making the story public would lead to a better outcome for the ICU.

Those staff members should be tremendously proud of themselves because I personally feel that is exactly what it achieved. ...

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

[h=1]Hervey Bay ICU will have three permanent specialists[/h]

...Medical staff braved a drizzly morning outside the Hervey Bay Hospital to protest against the region's health cuts. A small group of doctors, nurses and public supporters gathered to send a message to the State Government that the Fraser Coast deserved the same level of public health care Brisbane residents received.

Queensland Nurses Union assistant secretary Des Elder said Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service chief executive Adrian Pennington would meet with medical staff on Wednesday to discuss the ICU rating. ...

...UPDATE: Two new permanent, full-time intensive care specialists are to be appointed to the Hervey Bay Hospital intensive care unit.

The appointments will create a team of three intensive care specialists to ensure expert care will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the critically ill on the Fraser Coast. ...

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Thank you NRSKarenRN!