Nursing Education
Courses
Advanced Trauma Nursing Day
Participants in the Advanced trauma nursing day must have been working in Emergency at a resuscitation room level for at least two years and have a good understanding of basic trauma management principles and physiology. The aim of the day is to be interactive, provide clinical updates and a more advanced level of clinical skills.Trauma Nursing on the Ward
A full day course aimed at nurses caring for trauma patients in the ward context. Topics highlighted include the patient's journey, discussion about their resuscitation, the importance of the tertiary survey, pro-active referral to allied health, analgesia, post traumatic amnesia testing, Philadelphia collar care, effective log rolling, case studies. The prevention of complications and importance of early intervention are also a focus.HDU course - trauma component
As part of the 4 day St George Hospital High Dependency Nursing Course there is a trauma component. The trauma service provides education on log rolling, collar management and trauma assessment.Regular In-service
Philadelphia Collars
The trauma coordinators inform nursing and medical staff on the St George Hospital Philadelphia Collar protocol and the purpose of applying these collars. In addition, a hands on accreditation session is conducted. This includes how to appropriately measure, fit, manage and trouble shoot Philadelphia collars.ED Inservice
These are fortnightly and focus on the Initial Management of Trauma. This is achieved by conducting mock trauma scenarios, becoming familiar with resuscitative procedures and equipment and the systematic assessment of trauma patients. In addition, we provide information on the progress of in-hospital trauma patients and updates on new trauma policy.Ward Inservice
These bimonthly nursing in-services cover a range of topics from case studies highlighting various aspects of care, care specific to single system injuries, such as the management of rib fractures.Tertiary teaching
The St George hospital trauma service has a close relationship with the College of Nursing and the University of Wollongong School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health. We regularly provide education at an undergraduate and post graduate level for acute care nursing subjects, or the post graduate certificate in critical care or emergency.Nursing scholarships
The St George Hospital trauma service offers two conference registration scholarships annually for nursing staff to attend a trauma conference.
Recent scholarships have enabled staff to attend:
- 2007 - Austrauma 2007 'The Sting' held at Darling Harbour
- 2009 - SWAN Trauma Conference at Liverpool
In 2010 we are looking to Austrauma 2010 - Trauma, Critical Care & Emergency Surgery to be held in February at Darling Harbour.
The applicants need to have a demonstrated interest in trauma and provide information outlining what they wish to obtain from the conference and the relevance of this to their nursing practice and St George Hospital. Applicants must have completed the equivalent of one (1) year full time employment as a nurse and hold a permanent position at St George Hospital. The successful applicants must conduct a trauma related in-service following the conference as arranged with the trauma service.
Please contact Kate Curtis for further details on these scholarships.