Opening a new hospital, the learning’s from an Infection Management and Prevention perspective

Mrs Alison Pickering¹

¹Surgical Treatment And Rehabilitation Services

Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Services (STARS) is a 187 bed public hospital in Brisbane that opened its doors in February 2021.  This poster presentation will cover the pitfalls and learnings of opening a new hospital and Infection Management and Prevention Service in the middle of a pandemic.

STARS hospital is a public hospital within Queensland Health. STARS is unique in the fact that it  has an arrangement with a private partnership of renting the building off one company and a secondary relationship with a management group who run the maintenance and care of the building which has had its own set of unique challenges.

I was brought into this role in October 2020, as the sole Infection Prevention Practitioner in the middle of the pandemic with no base or structure for Infection Prevention programs and procedures. With quick succession over the course of four and half months I was asked to create a program, procedures set up the physical environment of a new hospital which opened to patients in February 2021 and be prepared for interim accreditation 10 days after opening.

This covers some of the key environmental challenges that I faced to ensure patient safety and compliance to Infection Control.   Given the increased demand for private, public partnerships to offset costs in establishing new facilities, I hope to assist others with the lessons learnt from this experience and guidance on how to overcome some of these challenges whilst thinking out of the box.

Biography:

I am the Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) of IMPS at Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Herston Brisbane. Previous to this, I was the a/CNC of IMPS at the Queensland Children’s hospital. I have a passion for Paediatrics, immunisation and streamlining surveillance programs to have a collaborative working relationship with health information management. I one day hope to study to be a Nurse Practitioner and specialise in Infectious Diseases and Infection Management and Prevention.

Qualifications:

Masters in public health, Communicable Disease Control – JCU

Immunisation Program Nurse – USQ

Graduate Certificate in Paediatric and Child Youth Health Nursing –  QUT