1. Patient and Family Rights & Education
Organization staff provide information and education to patients and familiesat appropriate times in the care process.
2. Infection Control
Infection control is the discipline concerned with preventing nosocomial or healthcare-associated infection, a practical sub-discipline of epidemiology. It is an essential, though often underrecognized and undersupported, part of the infrastructure of health care
3. Staff Qualifications
Doctors (medical staff)
You may be treated by a number of doctors during your hospital stay – the consultant (specialist), the registrar and the resident. Together they assess and manage your medical care. Depending on which hospital you are in, you may also be treated by interns and student doctors who work under the supervision of the senior doctors.
Doctors – roles and responsibilities
Doctors have different roles and responsibilities based on their level of experience and their medical specialty.
These roles include:
senior consultants – specialist doctors who see patients at specific times
registrars – senior doctors who supervise residents, interns and students
residents – look after patients on the ward and are in training for specialisation
interns – have completed their studies and are now finishing their final year in hospital
student doctors – undergraduate medical students.
The resident is based on the ward and is typically the doctor you will see most often. The registrar is the ward’s senior doctor and is usually contactable on site, while the senior consultant (or specialist) attends ward rounds and meetings at specific times.
Nurses
Nurses manage most of your ongoing care and treatment in hospital. They assess, plan and administer your daily treatment and manage your general health. Speak to them about your immediate needs. They can also direct you to the right people to speak to about specific medical issues.
Nurses – roles and responsibilities
Like doctors, nurses have different roles and responsibilities based on their experience and specialties.
These roles include:
nurse unit manager – runs the ward
associate nurse unit manager – helps the nurse unit manager to run the ward and acts as the manager when the nurse unit manager is off site
nurse practitioners – highly skilled nurses with an advanced level of training
specialist nurses, such as clinical nurse specialists, clinical nurse consultants, clinical nurse educators, triage nurses, emergency department nurses
registered nurses – provide a high level of day-to-day care and perform some minor procedures
enrolled nurses – provide basic medical care under the supervision of more senior nurses.
Allied health professionals
Allied health professionals are university-educated practitioners who work as part of your multidisciplinary healthcare team. They assess, diagnose and treat conditions and work to prevent disease and disability.
Some examples of allied health professionals include:
dietitians
occupational therapists
pharmacists
physiotherapists
podiatrists
speech pathologists.
You may also meet allied health assistants, who have been trained to help some of these allied health professionals in a support role.
Other hospital staff
Keeping a hospital running requires a great deal of organisation and administration. During your hospital stay, you will see a wide range of support and administrative staff taking care of everything from laundry and meals to patient transport and maintenance.
Hospital support staff you may meet during your stay include:
clinical assistants – take care of ward housekeeping
patient services assistants – bring meals and drinks
porters – take care of patient lifting and transport
volunteers – help with fundraising and ward visits
ward clerks – staff the ward reception desks.
4. Continuous Quality Improvement
5. Information Management
6. Organization Leadership
