Surgical Liaison Nurse

Date:  27 Dec 2024
Site:  VCCC (Parkville)
Location: 

MELBOURNE, VIC, AU, 3000

Company:  Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Unit:  Elective Surgery Access
Division:  Chief Operating Officer
Department:  Cancer Surgery Operations
Enterprise Agreement:  Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) (Sin
Elective Surgery Access

At Peter Mac we aim to continuously improve cancer care, research and education across all cancers and for all people affected by cancer: changing lives, breaking new ground. Everything we do is underpinned by our core values, Excellence, Compassion and Innovation. Welcoming people from a wide variety of different backgrounds and experiences is critical to fostering innovation, cultivating compassion, attracting and retaining top talent and providing the best possible cancer care for our patients.

 

YOUR ROLE IN OUR FUTURE
 

Surgical Liaison Nurse - 1 x Ongoing, Full-Time, YW17
 
An exciting, challenging and rewarding ongoing full-time role has become vacant within the Planned Surgery Team at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
 
-    Prior Surgical Liaison Nurse experience highly desirable
-    Minimum 3 years post-graduate acute surgical nursing experience
-    Permanent Full Time, 38 hours per week, plus ADO  

 

The Surgical Liaison Nurse works in collaboration with the surgical and wider multidisciplinary team. This nursing role is pivotal in prioritising and co-ordinating pre-op preparation and scheduling of patients awaiting planned surgery. The successful candidate will be motivated, highly organised and be able to provide high level, evidenced based, patient-focused nursing care in a timely and efficient manner. Surgical Liaison Nurses act as a resource for all staff for patients who are on the planned surgical waiting list. The Surgical Liaison Nurse will be able to work autonomously and collaboratively with multiple teams.  The Surgical Liaison Nurse will coordinate the theatre schedule with consideration for patients’ clinical urgency and equitable draw down from the planned surgery waiting list in accordance with the DoH Planned Surgery Access Policy.
 
Remuneration as per Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) Single Interest Employer Agreement 2024-2028 - Registered Nurse Grade 4A (YW17) $113,360.00 per annum.
 
Applicants to this role should provide a covering letter outlining relative key skills and experience to assist us with our assessment.
 
For further information about this opportunity, click Apply to be redirected to the Peter Mac Careers page where you can review the position summary. Alternatively, please contact us using the information below for a confidential discussion.
 
Hiring Manager: Allison Taplin
Contact Number: 0459 856 158
Email: allison.taplin@petermac.org
 
Applications Close: 11:59pm Friday 10th January 2025.

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Position Summary

The role of the Surgical Liaison Nurse isto provide streamlined patient-centred care for patients undergoing elective surgery at Peter Mac. This senior nursing role supports a designated surgical unit(s) and coordinates patient care in the lead up to surgery. The Surgical Liaison Nurse works both autonomously and collaboratively within the multidisciplinary team to triage, assess and prepare patients preoperatively. The Surgical Liaison nurse ensures patients are well informed and schedules patients for surgery considering effective use of resources. The Surgical Liaison Nurse works closely with the surgical unit, pre-admission clinics, peri-operative team, theatre bookings administration, and medical unit head while ensuring compliance with the Elective Surgery Access Policy (ESAP).

Enterprise Agreement

Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) Single Interest Employer Agreement 2024-2028

Classification or Salary Range

RN Grade 4A (YW17)

Immunisation Risk Category

Immunisation Category A

Key Relationships

Internal
  • Patients and Carers
  • Elective Surgery Access Manager
  • Theatre Bookings
  • Surgeons, Registrars, Fellows, HMO’s
  • Anaesthetics
  • Pre Anaesthetic Clinic Staff
  • Access Team
  • CancerImaging
  • Admissions and Registrations
  • Perioperative team
  • Wards/Departments/Units
  • Transport Department
  • Allied Health Staff
  • Clinical Nurse Consultant
External
  • General Practitioners
  • Primary Health Providers
  • Community Health
  • Hospitals
  • Aged Care Facilities
  • Private Consulting Rooms

 

Skills

  • Registered Nurse with currentlicence to practice from AHPRA - Division one
  • Minimum five years’ post graduate experience in a surgical setting
  • Highly developed communication & organisationalskills
  • Demonstrated clinical case management coordination experience or skills which would enable exceptional patient management
  • Demonstrated ability to practice collaboratively and triage patientsin conjunction with a multidisciplinary team
  • Demonstrated commitment to patient centred care and evidence-based practice in health care service delivery
  • Advanced assessment, problem solving, critical thinking and time management skills
  • Demonstrated ability in Microsoft Office skills(Outlook, Word, Excel)
  • Demonstrated ability, interest, and commitment to monitoring, evaluation, and audit of statistical data
  • Recent experience in Cancer Surgery, Peri-operative, or Anaesthetic/PACU nursing
  • Post graduate qualifications in surgical/perioperative nursing (or working towards)
  • Understanding of the DHHS Elective Surgery Access Policy (ESAP)

Certifications, Licenses & Registrations

AHPRA Registration

Key Accountabilities

Key Accountabilities Demonstrated by / Key Performance Indicators

1. Expert Clinical Practice: Surgical patient assessment, care planning and evaluation.

- Participates in the pre-admission planning process including attending relevant outpatient clinics and ensuring all documentation is complete
- Triages patients who require Pre-anaesthetic review
- Ensures relevant pre-admission investigations and referrals are completed prior to patient admission
- Collaborates, where required, with the tumour stream Clinical Nurse Consultants

- Patients are appropriately prepared for their surgery and present to the hospital asscheduled
- Ensures that all patients are treatedequitably within clinically appropriate timeframes
- Ensures that relevant/required investigations are completed and available prior topatients attending Pre-Anaesthetic clinic (PAC)
- Actively manages all clinical deferralsand assists in the follow up of further investigations required for patients to be ready for surgery
- Facilitates compliance with ERAS protocols related to their surgical stream
- Ensuring HDU/ICU beds are identified at the time of booking or following anaesthetic assessment
- Identifying and managing complex patients to ensure optimal health outcomes can be achieved and allows timely access for their procedure

2. Coordination of elective surgery waitlists and theatre schedules relevant to tumour stream.

- Ensures all elements of the ESAP are adhered to including all time points and communication with patients and GPs
- Ensures team meetings are scheduled with the relevant medical and anaesthetic staff to discuss patient issues
- Takes responsibility for the theatre planner for the tumour stream(s) and ensuresrelevant surgeons are consulted
- Communicates effectively within the team
- Supervises, directs and supports theatre bookings clerical staff

- Monitoring Category 1,2 & 3 patients to ensure that patients are treated within their designated timeframes
- Compliance with the DHHS ESAP principles
- Applying “treat in turn” principle to ESWL patients in all categories
- Developing and implementing management plans for elective surgery waiting list patients in consultation with the surgical and multidisciplinary team to ensure best outcomes for patients awaiting elective surgery
- Actively manages all patients on theESWL including those ready for surgery, not ready forsurgery and long wait patients
- Patients are scheduled appropriately 2 weeksin advance
- Patients are scheduled for surgery with consideration given to available bed resources
- Ensures patients receive written notification in an appropriate and accessible format
- Attendance at weekly Elective Surgery Huddle
- Monitor elective surgery cancellations aiming for Hospital Initiated Postponement (HIP) rates less than 7% while managing Patient Initiated Postponements (PIP)
- Maximising theatre utilisation and providing early identification of vacant theatre time to surgical head and Elective Surgery Access Manager
- Waiting validation is completed in line with the ESAP
- Liaises with GP and Community Health Care teams to support principles of the ESAP

Key Accountabilities (Contd..)

Key Accountabilities Demonstrated by / Key Performance Indicators

3. Undertake quality improvement activities in relation to pre-surgery patient care

- Monitors elective surgery waiting list performance of surgical streams, identifies areas for improvement
- Liaises with Surgical team and Anaesthetic department to review pre-admission processes

- In consultation with the surgical and anaesthetic teams the liaison nurse develops and implements clinical pathways, protocols and policies that promote a planned, co-ordinated approach to patient care
- Ensuring Pathways, Policies and Protocols are adhered to and reviewed periodically
- Internal audits are completed and reviewed
- Areas for improvement are identified and action plans are implemented
- Analysis of elective surgery statistical data is compiled and evaluated when required
- Maintains a standardised approach to elective surgerypatient care

4. Professional Leadership

- Systematically evaluates own practice, and identifies pertinent areas of clinical practice, management and education for development
- Periodically reviews effectiveness of position
- Works with other Surgical Liaison Nurses to support and cover portfolios at time of planned and unplanned leave
- Responsible for maintaining competencies, participating in those activities that contribute to the ongoing development of self, profession, and other health professions
- Maintains an active involvement in the activities of the profession through membership of relevant professional organisation
- Appraises own performance against this position description at least annually
- Acts collegially to support colleagues and peers & behaves ethically
- Has a clear customer focus, and promotes familycentred care, consumer involvement and the development of socially/culturally sensitive services
- Is able to balance competing and conflicting priorities and can effectively manage time
- Has a professional demeanour and is able to deal professionally with conflict involving patients or staff
- Is committed to ongoing professional development, values reflective practice and continually identifies professional development goals and pursues opportunities for learning, whilst also acknowledging the right of the hospital to designate certain education sessions as compulsory
- Ability to work unsupervised in an organised and confidential environment
- When required the elective surgery liaison nurse may be delegated elective surgery management responsibilities

- Demonstrates ability to take on new projects and tasks, and meet deadlines
- Demonstrates well developed communication and conflict resolution skills
- Attends and actively participatesin allrelevant meetings
- Evidence of active maintenance of own professional involvement
- Performance plan will reflect professional development activities and professional involvement. Will be reviewed in regular discussions with the line manager and annually during performance appraisal
- Contributing to clinical care standards, nursing policies, procedures and protocols
- Role modelling and providing high quality evidence based nursing practices

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Peter Mac requires its staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this requirement.

 

WHY WORK FOR PETER MAC

  • Peter Mac offer a range of benefits which support our people both personally and professionally.
  • Our staff benefits include award winning facilities, professional development and events, a health and wellbeing program, flexible work practices and policies and financial benefits such as salary packaging.
  • We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, all members of the LGBTQI community and people with a disability.