After nearly seven rewarding years at Moorabbin Hospital, Nurse Manager Amanda Turner knew it was time for an exciting new adventure.
Having recently being appointed into a new role as the Ambulatory Services Nurse Manager at the Victorian Heart Hospital (VHH), Amanda couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try something new in Australia’s very first speciality heart hospital.
“As much as I loved working at Moorabbin and it will always hold a special place in my heart, I was ready for a change in scenery and this new role presented just the challenge I was seeking,” she said.
Working as an operating theatre nurse, a specialist consulting nurse manager and a perioperative liaison nurse, Amanda said she felt these differing roles had provided her with a range of skills and knowledge she would draw on in her new role in ambulatory services.
“I’m going to have the opportunity to ensure safe, coordinated and high-quality patient care across the multidisciplinary environment and will be responsible for ensuring positive patient outcomes while maintaining staff satisfaction and engagement to a newly developed team,” she said.
“It’s an amazing prospect to be a part of a brand-new hospital and I was particularly excited to be given the rare opportunity to be able to recruit my own nursing team.”
The ambulatory services unit at the VHH will consist of multiple adult and paediatric cardiac clinics ranging from cardiology preadmission, adolescent and adult congenital heart disease, cardiac rhythm management, rapid chest pain, heart failure and structural heart disease and preventative and rehab clinics.
“There will also be two new clinics including an aortic clinic and a women’s heart health service, which will be an integrated interdisciplinary outpatient practise encompassing specialised and comprehensive care of women,” Amanda said.
The clinics will also be supported by a new purpose-built Electronic Medical Record (EMR) model and a patient check-in kiosk – which will provide multi-lingual patient engagement, self-service, workflow, check-in and verification of patient ID.
Amanda said working within ambulatory services caught her eye for a number of reasons.
“I will be leading my nursing team, working with a range of multidisciplinary units, engaging with internal and external stakeholders, while still having the opportunity to interact directly with patients,” she said.
“My vision is to create a positive and resilient workplace culture, especially due to the last few years with COVID-19 – the nursing workforce and all workforces have been challenged beyond all our expectations.
“I am committed to building my own team where the emphasis will be on strong communication and support in order to create a successful and happy workplace environment.”
For those wondering if they should make the switch, Amanda said they should absolutely go for it.
“Even though I’ve been in the role a short time, I can already see how passionate, dedicated and supportive the whole leadership group is,” she said.
“It’s going to be a very unique experience for a nursing team to be a part of a new hospital set up and it will provide people with an opportunity for an exciting new adventure.”
To learn more about career opportunities at the Victorian Heart Hospital, visit our Careers page.