ELIZABETH DODD

Personal statement Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife with experience working with patients and the collaborative team. Sensitive to patients needs, responses, comfort and health as well as a good bedside manner. Focus on providing quality service, ensuring health outcomes and upholds excellence of patient care. Ability to be flexible in the workplace, hardworking, honest, reliable, dependable, open and respectful worker with strong communication skills. Understands and upholds code of conduct and empowers others to do the same while promoting a positive working environment. Experience using a wide variety of medical software programs as well as an understanding of various anesthetic and pain relief medications. Enthusiastic and highly motivated in gaining experience as an anesthetic and perioperative nurse that provides compassionate and culturally competent care. Quickly learns new procedures and responds to situations with critical thinking and fast acting mindset. Dedicated and focused un perusing educational and career goals.

* Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia - APHRA

* NSW Nurses Association

* Anaes Assist

Evidence of high level skills and knowledge:

1) Current:

· Enrolled in Master of Midwifery

· Enrolled in Neonatal Advanced Life Support

· Enrolled in Adult Advanced Life Support

2) Education:

· Bachelor of Nursing 1994

· Diploma of Midwifery 1996

· Certificate Child and Family Health 2001

· Immunisation course 2002

3) Advanced skills:

· Obstetric emergencies - APH, PPH, Cord prolapse, PIH, PE, Should Dystocia

· Cannulation and Venepuncture advances skills

· Induction of labour, ARM and syntocinon advanced skills

· Competent applicator of FSE

· Interpretation of CTG’s advanced skills

· Transferring clients to high level care hospital

· Abdominal palpations

· Use of ultrasounds to confirm cephalic presentations

· Communicating and working collaboratively with staff, managers, secretaries, residents, registrars, consultants, after hours manager, anaesthetist, theatre

· Anaesthetics and ALS skills

· Advanced neonatal resuscitation skills

· Computer skills – ematernity, Ipim, Ims, sourcing blood results, sourcing ultrasound results, retrieving FAXs

· IOL process and spreadsheets

· LSCS spreadsheet

· Workings of day stay and necessity of offering assistance when can

· Pathology, medications, outputs and hydration

· Multicultural Health and valuing diversity

Contributes to the development of clinical practices within the department:

Proactively involved in:

· Educating junior staff and students on working of the unit, encouraging involvement in caring for clients and their families.

· Fostering positivity within the unit

· Working and developing within policies and guidelines, encouraging others to do same

· Setting up policy reviews to educate staff – see attached

· Organising policy reviews within the unit

· Encouraging use of TEAMS within the unit

· Setting up, educating and encouraging use of new PPH trolley

· Setting up, educating and encouraging use of scales in birthing rooms to correctly measure blood loss.

Resource person and/ or mentor:

Consistently involved in:

· Training and modelling current procedures and practices within the birthing unit to new and existing staff

· Educating staff on current policies and making sure they are followed

· Orientating, encouraging and empowering new and current staff to birthing unit

· Offering clinical advice to all staff and discuss holistic care of clients

· Respect other staffs abilities, knowledge and skills

· Assisting with CTG reviews, ARMs, FSE attachment, cannulation, venepuncture, abdominal palps and encourages staff to perform

· Checking birthing rooms every shift and encouraging staff to do same

· Checking emergency boxes and encouraging staff to do same

· Checking and restocking IVI and epidural trolleys and encouraging staff to do same

· Checking neonatal resus trolleys, including theatre neonatal resus trolleys and encouraging staff to do same

· Unpacking stores and restocking when needed. Encouraging staff to do same

· Checking fridge and freezer temperatures, striving for 5 degrees Encouraging other staff to do same

· Ordering S4 and S8 medications, collects and encouraged staff to do same

· Checking drug counts and escalates if count incorrect

· Capability of seeing each client and their families as an individual and treating them with openness, respect and empowerment. 

Contribute to own personal development:

· Up to date with mandatory education

· Yearly staff appraisal/ PDR

· Reads current policies and practices current policies

· Subscribed to midwifery matters journal 

· Expression of interest for Midwifery Initiative Pathology and Treatment Pathways (MIPT)

· Working towards newborn checks

· Enrolled in adult advanced life support

· Enrolled in Master of midwifery

· Enrolled in Advanced Life Support of Newborn Workshop

Behavioural Claims:

1) Reliability 

· punctual and reliable team member: arrives to work usually 5-10 minutes early

· leaves work as a team, thanking staff for a good day

· ability and compliancy in working in all areas of obstetrics (birthing unit, MAPS, maternity, theatre, day stay)

· attends ward meetings and actively contributes

· works within policies and guidelines 

· respects values – collaboration, openness, respect and empowerment

· completes given tasks and actions in a timely and professional manner

2) Resourcefulness

· Advanced problem solver: presents to birthing suite with junior midwife carrying out a delivery. Shoulder dystocia identified. As an advanced midwife I called for help, laid bed back and turned client onto all fours. Shoulders dislodged and baby born. Debriefed birth with junior midwife and client. 

· Stays calm during obstetric emergencies, working with O and G team, fellow midwives and other members of the team.

· Works in a manner which conveys working within policies and procedures so other team members can learn. Mentors and encouraged other team members to work positively and within policy and procedures guidelines. 

· Understanding of where to find policies and procedures in order to educate self and other team members. Project – reviewing policies and procedures.

· Advanced knowledge of when and how to escalate when needed. Eg: A client presents to birthing unit with MSL. SCN notification attended and O and G team made aware.

3) High Level Communicator

· Effectively communicates with midwifery team, O and G team, anaesthetists, other departments within the hospital, administrative team, social workers and other relevant teams within the hospital. Eg: A client is requesting an epidural. Platelets are identified. O and G team notified. Anaesthetist notified and client receives her epidural.

· Remains professional during stressful situations. Eg: Fetal complicated decelerations are observed on CTG with loss of contact. Obtains consent from client to attach an FSE. FSC confirms complicated variable deceleration. Staff assist button pressed. Consultant and registrar arrive. Consultant lists what needs to be attended. Cannula attended, bloods sent, IVI fluids commenced, client prepared for theatre and transferred, all within a timely and non-stressful manner. Client debriefed post-delivery and empathy given for stressful situation. 

4) Knowledge

· Advanced midwifery knowledge from years of experience and keeping updated with changes in field. Able to model and practice in a professional manner in order to mentor other team members. 

· I have been trained and on a wide range of midwifery texts and situations and can provide detailed explanations and examples of and given situation Eg: Obstetric emergencies. Additionally I understand and respond to situations and follow up questions. This enables me to provide a deeper understanding of the situation 

· I am up to date and current information and training relating to Midwifery and continually source information to remain updated and to improve my knowledge. 

5) Leadership

· I have advanced Midwifery skills, ability and knowledge which enable to me to work as a leader and team leader within the birthing unit. 

· Provision of guidance and suggestions for difficult conversation within the team about technical and behavioural issues as they arise. I consider myself to be an effective communicator, able to form strategies for addressing concerns in a professional and respectful manner. Eg: Working in the day stay unit I was attending 3 inductions with only two private rooms. I asked the team leader of birthing suite if I could attend the induction in one of the birthing unit rooms in order to provide privacy for the client. With a professional and respectful discussion the client was given her induction in a private room. 

· Professionally works in a team where the team feels safe and comfortable to express their concerns and ideas for the unit. This includes honest communication, providing feedback and seeking suggestions on improvement. Eg: As a senior midwife I was supporting a junior midwife in a team leader role. The midwife was feeling overwhelmed with the client load and wanted to get an extra staff member. I suggested how to organise the given staff and given clientele in order to effectively manage the situation. This was attended in a supportive, honest and professional manner. Suggestions and feedback were encouraged. 

· Working in HNEAHS I am committed and support the leaders of Midwifery and HNEAHS organising. I am trusting, confidential, good communicator, work within the values, appreciative, consistent and fair. 

· As a senior midwife I constantly try to promote and maintain a positive and professional work place culture. I lead by setting positive examples, clearly communicates, addressing issues when they arise and continually monitors and evaluates the work environment. Eg: A member of staff communicated with me that they felt bullied. Staff member did not have the courage to address the situation. As a senior member of staff, I encouraged the staff member to do so and supported her whist doing. 

6) Role Modelling

· Working as a senior midwife I model behaviours which includes following policies and procedures, acting with integrity and honesty, respecting others, taking responsibility for actions and being a positive and supportive team member. I discourage bullying and harassment, disrespecting others ,violating policies and procedures, failing to take responsibility for actions and acting unethically. 

· As a senior midwife I conduct myself in a professional way in order to maintain a positive reputation. I do not post work related issues on social media as this would be unprofessional, breach of confidentiality and outside the organisations standards. 

· Working within HNEAHS I work professionally and adhere to principles of excellence and focus on ways to improve my professionalism. I set high standards for myself as a Midwife, attend training and education, continually evaluate myself and surroundings,  role model and foster a culture for excellence.