Mrs Nicole Jamieson1, Miss Jade Ryan1
1Flinders Medical Centre, Salhn, Bedford Park, Australia
Biography:
Nicole Jamieson is the Manager of Acute Occupational Therapy within the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN), overseeing a large team delivering high-quality care in the acute setting. With over 27 years as an occupational therapist, she has worked across multiple acute, rehabilitation, and community sectors in a variety of roles. Prior to SALHN, Nicole held senior manager roles in Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) and served as the Allied Health Service Manager for Intermediate Care Services, where she led service improvements and workforce development.
Abstract:
Within SALHN acute services there had been no investment by the network in Occupational Therapy (OT) resourcing in recognition of the additional workload requirements associated with the management of complex disabled patients and the NDIS. In 2022, The OT department used existing resources and funding to create a specialist Disability Lead role, to address the needs of this complex patient cohort. Over time demand for this role exceeded capacity thus a temporary trial of increased resourcing in the disability space was proposed and approved.
The purpose of this trial was to:
– Meet increased clinical demands and NDIS workload.
– Improve length of stay (LOS) for NDIS participants presenting to SALHN acute sites.
– To improve time efficiencies for the completion of the Hospital Discharge Assessment (HDA)
– To enable leave cover/service continuity
– To support OT, AH and MDT education
– To support front door approaches to hospital avoidance in the ED
– To support quality improvement and development of service efficiencies (eg. resources, templates)
Baseline data was collected from 2022 for 127 patients seen by the single Disability Lead OT position and compared to data collected during the 6-month trial period in 2024 for 146 patients.
Outcomes of the trial showed:
– a 9% reduction in average LOS
– a 35% reduction in average LOS post medical stability
– a 51% reduction in time from admission to disability OT referral
– a 52% reduction in HDA completion by OT.
The above data and outcome of this trial were successfully utilised to advocate for funding for an additional ongoing position.