Pathway to Excellence

As a Pathway to Excellence® designated health care organisation we are committed to a culture of sustained excellence and a positive practice environment. By using the Pathway Standards as a framework, we have showcased what we do well, and we continue to work on things we could do better as nurses. We Live Pathway every day.   

What does a LIVING PATHWAY mean?  

As a Pathway-designated organisation, our nurses embody the Pathway Standards through the work they do every day:  

• Shared decision-making: The organization has an established shared governance structure as the foundation for involving direct care nurses in decision-making.  
• Leadership: Leadership fosters the foundation of collaboration among staff and supports a shared governance environment.  
• Safety: The organization protects the safety and well-being of nurses, staff, and consumers through safety policies and processes.  
• Quality: Organization-wide quality initiatives are evidence-based, focused on improving patient outcomes, developed through interprofessional collaboration, and implemented based on internal and external benchmarking.  
• Wellbeing: Staff have the opportunity to develop a balance between work and personal life. Achievements for community service, patient advocacy, and contributions to improving population health is encouraged, supported, and recognized by the organization.  
• Professional development: The organization recognizes the importance of staff orientation, collaboration, and professional development in the delivery of safe and effective care.

MSAMHS will continue to deliver on our Pathway Promise to create a healthy work environment where nurses excel and feel empowered as an integral part of the team.  Our organisation’s investment in our nursing leadership, policies, and safety means better quality care from our nurses and better outcomes for our consumers. #LivingPathway  

Education

MSAMHS aim to emphasize education engagement with quality assurance to consumer care, professional development and lifelong learning.  

The MSAMHS Nursing Education Team is accountable at an advance practice level for the design, implementation, assessment, evaluation and mental health nursing education programs, managing resources and providing nursing expertise related to educational issues to meet strategic priorities of Nursing Services within Metro South Hospital and Health Service (MSHHS). The educators lead and support a culture of development and enquiry which actively encourages and facilitates clinical, professional, and organisational learning within a Supported Practice Framework. 

A structured nursing education plan was developed to outline the MSAMHS educational priorities, key strategies, actions, and key performance indicators undertaken to embed and foster the effective application of the tenets of the Lifelong Learning Framework and meet MSAMHS strategic and operational objectives. This highlights the optimum capacity, advance professional development, and commitment to lifelong learning of the MSAMHS workforce, which includes:

• Delivering systems to support elements of mandatory training for nursing orientation and induction.
• Developing learning needs plans for performance improvement to nurses referred by the nurse unit managers.
• Assisting and implementing strategies for nursing leadership, development, mentoring and succession planning.
• Delivering and supporting the annual transition support programs of Graduate Registered nurses.
• Collaborating closely with mental health units to recruit and support graduate nurses as they adapt to their new role.
• Offering several development programs for nurses returning to the profession or transitioning to mental health.
• Coordinating clinical experiences and supporting student placements and orientations.
• Facilitating distribution of learning materials including weekly nursing newsletters.
• Working on a consultancy basis with various units including medical and clinical specialties to facilitate improvement and address specific learning and education needs.

MSAMHS has acute inpatient and community nurse educators based across Metro South. These nurse educators have various specialised knowledge in particular areas of mental health and addiction, as well as in education. They support teaching and learning in MSAMHS to ensure the nursing workforce are enabled to deliver excellent consumer care.

For further information contact MSAMHS Research & Learning Network.

Research and Publications

Evidenced informed interventions are a central and integral part of daily nursing practice. All nurses can contribute to evidence informed practice by undertaking practiced based research. Nursing research ranges from a new exploration of an observation through to thesis. Research can bring forward benefits to professional development, systems, and culture, contributing to improvements to clinical care in best practice standards.

MSAMHS Nursing Research Projects and Publications

1. Theodoros T, Wyder M, Lombardo C, Dark F, Joseph AM, Steginga A, Locke S, Kinsella K & Kar Ray M. (2021). Life in 90 words: opportunities for person-centred care amidst COVID-19. Australasian Psychiatry, 29(2), 189-193. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1039856220975280
2. Ray M K, Chow KK, Theodoros T, Wyder M, Steginga A, Sorrensen R, Hickey P, Lau G, Kinsella K & Lombardo C. (2021). LOVE in the time of Covid-19: a brief mental health intervention to overcome loneliness. Australasian Psychiatry: Bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 10398562211010806-10398562211010806. https://europepmc.org/article/med/33951956
3. McDonald J, Hickey P & Wyder M. (2021). 9 Implementing Single Session Thinking in a Public Mental Health Setting in Queensland: Part II–Adapting and Integrating Single Session Therapy into an Acute Care Setting. In M.F. Hoyt, J. Young, & P. Rycroft (Eds.), Single Session Thinking and Practice in Global, Cultural, and Familial Contexts: Expanding Applications. New York, NY: Routledge.
4. Siskind D, Russell A, Gamble C, Baker A, Cosgrove P, Burton L & Kisely S. (2020). Metabolic measures 12 months after a randomised controlled trial of treatment of clozapine associated obesity and diabetes with exenatide (CODEX). Journal of psychiatric research, 124, 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.02.015
5. Le Gros J, Wyder M & Brunelli V. (2019). Single session work: Implementing brief intervention as routine practice in an acute care mental health assessment service. Australasian Psychiatry, 27(1), 21-24. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1039856218815756
6. Harvey ST, Bennett JA, Burmeister E & Wyder M. (2018). Evaluating a nurse-led community model of service for perinatal mental health. Collegian, 25(5), 525-531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2017.12.005
7. Hughes JA, Sheehan M & Evans J. (2018). Treatment and outcomes of patients presenting to an adult emergency department involuntarily with substance misuse. International journal of mental health nursing, 27(2), 593-599. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12340
8. Wyder M, Ehrlich C, Crompton D, McArthur L, Delaforce C, Dziopa F, Ramon S & Powell E. (2017). Nurses experiences of delivering care in acute inpatient mental health settings: A narrative synthesis of the literature. International journal of mental health nursing, 26(6), 527-540. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12315

For further information contact MSAMHS Research & Learning Network.

Reward and Recognition

Every year we recognise nurses at our International Nurses Day and Nurse of the Year events 

• MSAMHS Nurse of the Year 2021
• International Nurses Day 2021
• MSAMHS Nurse of the Year 2020

Nurse Practitioners

Nurse Practitioners are advanced practice nurses that work in a variety of specialties and provide comprehensive care to consumers. They provide primary and preventative care, diagnose, treat certain conditions, and prescribe certain medications. Nurse Practitioners at MSAMHS work in the following areas:

• Perinatal Mental Health – Logan & Redlands 
• Clozapine - PAH 
• Addictions - Logan

Nurse Navigators

Nurse navigators are working collaboratively to ensure the service is providing person centred care as per the underpinning principles of the role as outlined by the Office of the Chief Nurse & Midwifery Officer (OCNMO) while meeting the individual needs of the person.  

Key role principles include coordinating person centred care, creating partnerships, improving consumer outcomes, and facilitating systems improvements. MSAMHS nurse navigators are focused on: 

• Addictions Service - PAH 
• GP Shared Care - PAH 
• Child and Youth Suicide Prevention - Redlands 
• Emergency Mental Health - Logan 
• Generalist Mental Health – Logan and PAH 

To find out more about Nurse Navigators, visit OCNMO. 

Careers in Nursing

As a nurse with Metro South Addiction and Mental Health Services you will have the opportunity to work with a diverse group of people experiencing complex mental health and/or substance use disorders. 
  
We offer a world of opportunity to build on your skills in a variety of different settings ranging from inpatient, community and rehabilitation across all age spectrums. We have approximately 580 nurses working across the service. 

“I’ve been employed as a Mental health Nurse working for the Metro South Child and Youth Mental Health Service for over a decade.  I continue to learn more every day about young people, children and their families and it’s a really rewarding experience being a part of and leading the changes necessary for recovery.  If you can find an opportunity to be a part of a Child and Youth Mental Health Service, take that opportunity.  It may be the most important career choice you will make.”
– Stephen Henley, Clinical Nurse Consultant, 2022

“Rotations! Allowed me the opportunities to become a leader and gain experiences in different environments and positions, with the right supports.”
– Titi Do, Grad RN 2019