With its state-of-the-art facilities and central location, the new Tweed Valley Hospital is proving a hit with students and researchers.
More than 700 Southern Cross University students have competed their placements at the Tweed Valley Hospital since it opened in May last year.
The $723-million hospital, located in Kingscliff on the border of Queensland and Northern NSW, offers state-of-the-art facilities for patients, healthcare professionals and students.
Second year Bachelor of Nursing student Lily Blair said she was nervous going into her placement at the new hospital but thoroughly enjoyed her time on the ward.
"It was my first hospital placement and I didn't know what to expect but everyone was so welcoming, it made all the difference.
"The new graduate nurses related to my nervousness and were keen to give me that little bit of extra guidance but it was great working with more experienced nurses as well who have just seen it all," she said.
Tweed Valley Hospital is home to the Academic Health Alliance, a collaborative education and research network comprising Southern Cross University, Bond University, Griffith University and TAFE NSW, in partnership with the Northern NSW Local Health District.
Students on placement have been able to access the Alliance hub building for study spaces and training laboratories as well as meeting rooms.
Lily said the Alliance hub building was a good space for meeting other students, with games afternoons on Fridays and social spaces to chat and get to know one another.
"We met some TAFE students while we were on placement and got to see the hospital experience from their point of view as well," she said.
Collaborative research gains
With research also a focus for the Academic Health Alliance, a pilot study led by Southern Cross at the new hospital has produced encouraging results.
The study examined the effectiveness of a codesigned model of care utilising a Prevention & Early Delirium Identification Carer Toolkit (PREDICT), that helps carers and healthcare professionals recognise one of the most common hospital-acquired conditions for patients over the age of 65: delirium.
Chief Investigator Associate Professor Christina Aggar said the hospital offered an excellent opportunity for collaborative research.
"Delirium can be a frightening experience for all involved. We were able to test our model of care to decrease the incidence of delirium, by working closely with healthcare professionals, patients and their carers.
"A real hospital with diverse environments and patient groups provides an excellent ground for this kind of research.
"Our pilot study showed that carers want to be involved in the care of loved ones, their knowledge of delirium increased and the incidence of delirium decreased.
"Better outcomes for patients is our ultimate goal and by working closely with researchers from our partner universities, I am sure we can achieve even more in the future," she said.
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KATE: I found that my mom changed personalities. Um, she went from being a person that would listen and do things to a person that was totally cranky, wouldn't do what she was asked to do. And she was disorientated, not knowing which room she was actually going to. ERIN: Delirium is completely dependent on the person and then also the underlying cause. So, we can have a hypoactive delirium that kind of mimics almost like a depression. So people can be really low mood. They can be really withdrawn, not wanting to participate. We can also have a hyperactive delirium which is more when we see um wandering behaviours, loud verbalizations. It might be people crying out for help. It could be agitation and aggression. There can also be a mix of the two as well. CHRISTINA: It affects around on average 20% of patients over 65 being admitted to hospital and up to 10% of those once they've been admitted. Delirium traditionally is a hospital-acquired complication and it still is, but we were seeing more and more cases of delirium coming through the emergency and we were seeing more and more cases of patients being discharged with either an unresolved delirium or an undiagnosed delirium. ERIN: Carers are vitally important to the diagnosis and the management of delirium. They understand nuance changes that us as clinicians cannot perceive sometimes. CHRISTINA: Predict was co-designed with not only clinicians and carers but also patients. ERIN: The PREDICT toolkit it's a really easy to understand toolkit that they can take home. They can give to other family members as well. CHRISTINA: When we piloted the program in Tweed Hospital, we found that there was a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of delirium. So PREDICT was not only useful for carers in hospital, but it was also useful for when they went home because once you've been diagnosed with a delirium once, you're more likely to get a second and a third delirium. ERIN: If we can start to understand the small changes that people go through and we can start putting a plan in place to manage and resolve the delirium earlier, it actually leads to better long-term outcomes for that patient.
