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Education

 Nurse Education offered in PICU at RCH

The Nursing Education focus in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit is on:

• Fostering a participative clinical learning environment
• Fostering the professional development of nursing staff
• Promotion of focused support for Post Graduate Diploma students
• Supporting a preceptorship model of learning
• Providing a unit based education program
• Promotion of nursing research, clinical inquiry and evidenced based nursing practice

Amongst the Educational & Research supports provided for the Intensive Care nurses are:

• Annually a Preceptorship Course is conducted in conjunction with The University of Melbourne.
• 5 Days paid study leave per annum for full time staff plus conference leave and professional development days
• A Clinical Inquiry Database is utilised by the unit nurses to enter clinical based nursing issues, which arise during their practice.
• Monthly a Journal Club meeting is conducted in the unit to promote the use of evidenced based nursing practices and nursing research.
• Annually 15 students have a 12 month clinical placement for the Postgraduate Diploma in Paediatric Critical Care Nursing conducted in conjunction with The University of Melbourne School of Graduate Nursing
• One day workshops are run in the unit every month on a different topic
• Short education sessions and updates are held several times a week
• Staff are supported to attend the APLS 3 day course and 1 day PLS
• Competency packages are used to keep staff current in various aspects of PICU practice
• The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit has 1 Clinical Nurse Educator and 2 Clinical Nurse Facilitators

Paediatric Intensive Care Nursing Courses offered in PICU at RCH

Would you like to work in Paediatric Intensive Care?  Well here is your chance:

Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing Practice (Paediatric Intensive Care)

Applications for 2009 are now open

12-month course conducted through The University of Melbourne. Clinical placements include the Neonatal Unit, the Cardiothoracic Unit and the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. Students are employed part-time and attend lectures conducted on site at RCH. The possibility of part-time study exists. Credits are possible through recognition of prior learning. Students are supported clinically with a strong focus on preceptorship.

For further information contact:
Janine Evans
Course Co-ordinator 
Telephone: +61 3 9345 5777 
e-mail: janine.evans@rch.org.au

• SCHOOL OF NURSING (Melbourne University)

Observational/Practice Nurse Visitor Guidelines for Paediatric Intensive Care Unit,  Royal Children’s Hospital,  Melbourne.

1. Requests for all observational nursing visits to the unit will be reviewed by the education team in consultation with the Nurse Manager. Contact Dianne McKinley PICU Nurse Educator di.mckinley@rch.org.au or +61 9345 5225 or Suzanne Hall Nurse Manger Paediatric Intensive Care Services suzanne.hall@rch.org.auor +61 9345 5201.
2. Only one observational visitor in the unit at any given time will be accommodated, unless student observational visitors or group observational visitors are from an interstate or an overseas location. In this case 2 observational visitors may be considered.
3. Request for observational/practice visits must be received 3 months in advance of the proposed visit. Late requests may be considered at the discretion of the Unit Manager and the Educational Team.
4. All observational/practice visitors must provide written objectives which will be considered before the request is granted. The objectives must be specific to PICU and be of value to nursing practice.
5. Visitors are encouraged to organise a practice visit and seek registration with the Nurse’s Board of Victorian. This will need to be organised well in advance as registration is a lengthy process.   Information can be obtained from the Nurse’s Board of Victoria website. http://www.nbv.org.au
6. Practice visits require a contractual agreement between the external agency and the Royal Children’s Hospital.
7. Observational visits will be for one week duration, except in circumstances when 2 weeks maximum may be considered for overseas visitors.
8. Overseas visitors must have competency in the English language. We will consider individual request, however it is preferable that the standards set by the Nurses Board of Victoria are met (see Appendix 1 below). 
9. Observational visitors will be placed clinically with a Registered Nurse and the in charge PICU Associate Unit Managers will be notified of the arrangements prior to the commencement of the shift. The observational visitor’s objectives will be made available to the PICU staff supporting the visit.
10. Nurses visiting must have completed an undergraduate program
11. All visitors must sign a confidential agreement as per RCH policy guidelines
12. The Royal Children’s Hospital in unable to provide accommodation and accommodation arrangements must be made independently. Information can be obtained from http://www.travelvictoria.com.au

Appendix 1: Nurses Board of Victoria English requirement

A minimum or the equivalent of a pass in the Occupational English Test (OET) nursing version, with at least a B pass or above in all four subtests. Please note that the result achieved in any individual subtest is valid for two (2) years from the date that subtest was passed. OR a pass in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic test, with a score of at least 6.5 in Reading and Listening, and a score of at least 7 in Writing and Speaking and an overall band score of 7, unless accompanied by an interpreter.  

Medical Education offered in PICU at RCH

The PICU provides experience and training in paediatric intensive care medicine for trainees from Australia and overseas.

The unit is accredited for two years core training for Fellowship of the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine ANZCA. The unit also offers accredited supervision of trainees of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and Australasian College of Emergency Medicine.

Teaching within the unit consists of twice daily ward rounds, as well as teaching sessions on three mornings per week. These sessions include a journal club, case presentations and review mortality/morbidity meetings and a series of lectures by speakers from within and outside the unit on relevant topics. Other courses on trauma care, interhospital transport (PETS) and ECMO are also conducted in the unit. Registrars are also encouraged to attend the numerous other teaching sessions held in the hospital.

Each trainee is assigned an ICU consultant mentor and all Registrars are encouraged to undertake research projects. Some trainees elect to continue in ICU related research towards a postgraduate degree (MD or PhD).