Carolyn is a registered nurse/midwife with qualifications in Women’s Health, Frontline Management and Health Systems Management.
Carolyn was the Nurse Unit Manager of Emergency, at the Royal Women’s for seven years. During her time as unit manager, Emergency established an early pregnancy assessment service as a stand-alone clinic, expanded the assessment centre (maternity) to a 24 hour / 7day a week service, and undertook the management of Admissions and the acute CASA crisis care unit within emergency.
In 2011 Carolyn was seconded to undertake the BEST (Better Emergency Service Times) project which identified barriers and developed Emergency and hospital wide initiatives to improve emergency department patient waiting times.
Carolyn has over eight years’ experience in redesign and project management across the Women’s different health streams and teams.
Carolyn works closely within the quality and safety unit to undertake organisation-wide improvement and innovation activities, coach teams, provide training to staff and facilitate groups to understand problems and generate solutions.
Recent highlights
- We have successfully undertaken two BCV Innovation Fund projects one of which the 2017-18 Assessment and Jaundice of the Newborn at Home. We are now (2021) working toward expanding this pathway of care to include Women’s at Sandringham mothers and babies.
- 2019-20 Maternity – Safer Baby Collaborative – The Women’s speciality clinic – (Women Alcohol and Drug Services) participated as our pilot (test) group in a state wide SCV project rolling out a bundle of 5 elements in pregnancy care which aims to reduce the risk (and rate) of stillbirth in Victoria. The elements of care are expanded across all pregnancy clinics and hospital wide online training implemented.
- OSIM – the IIA coordinates and facilitates the Women’s annual OSIM self- assessment with development of recommendations an action plan for improvement.
- COVID-19 –Supported the Infection Control and Prevention team in their initial response, and redeployed to support clinical services and undertook Maternity Manager (Acting) –Pregnancy Clinics for 4 months.
- Currently working with different teams on – Reconciliation Action Plan – Improving Identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders within our services.
- Utilising best evidence / practice in the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) to develop and implement a new pathway of care for women having a planned caesarean section birth at the Women’s – Enhanced Recovery After Caesarean (ERAC).
Why I do what I do
I enjoy working closely with clinicians to implement improvements which directly benefit there working environment and patients.
I love developing new ideas of how we should be providing better / best care and then implementing these pathways into practice. Actually putting the ideas into actions, i.e. ‘doing the doing” and measuring the changes is very rewarding.
Publications
Medical Management of Miscarriage at Home
Poster IHI-BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare conference 2018 - Melbourne
Assessment and Care of the Jaundiced Newborn at Home
Poster IHI-BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare conference – 2019 Glasgow.
Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety category for the 22nd Annual ACHS QI Awards 2019 - Highly Commended recognition from the judges in the Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety category for the 22nd Annual ACHS QI Awards 2019. Quality Initiatives publication.