Siobhan Watts

Consultation Liaison (CL) Nurse provides high level clinical expertise and respect to assessment, ongoing management and recovery journey of consumer with a deterioration in mental health as a result of, or in addition to medical/surgical issues.

A CL psych nurse participates in clinical service development activities within a team and supports other clinicians in the delivery of high quality mental health care.

The role involves the provision and supervision as well as education to staff as well as students within relevant discipline while encouraging and supporting quality initiatives.

Duties Include:

• Coordinate the CL psychiatrist service of Northern Hospital
• Attend to daily handover- allocate and delicate tasks and duties for the day
• Attends to meeting to enhance quality care and best outcomes for consumers
• Adherer to MHWA 2022 as well as educating this legislation to Northern hospital staff
• Provide training and education opportunities to to enhance the mental health literacy of generalised clinicians, medical and nursing staff. Relating to psychiatric disorders and treatments
• Provide high level of clinical expertise in assessment, ongoing management and recovery of consumers with complex medical and mental health needs
• Providing consultation for management of behaviourally disturbed or compromised inpatients of the hospital
• Complete risk assessments for consumers because of psychiatric symptoms, ensuring clinically indicated observations are observed and the appropriate utilisation clinical recourse
• Assist in primary, secondary and tertiary consultation services, community development and education.
• Linking consumers into the appropriate agencies to provide ongoing support
• Maximising participation in collaborative recovery and wellness planning.
• Ensuing completion of cinical governance, legislative and documentation requirements are adhered to
• Provide professional supervision and mentorship to others clinicians
• Work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team
• Participate and contribute to ongoing professional development.
• Collected and analyzed KPI's and feedback to identify opportunities to improve relationship between services
• Liaise between internal departments and external partners to promote efficient communication and collaboration for better consumer outcomes.
• Implemented strategies to streamline communication between internal and external stakeholders.

• Providing mental health care to young people aged 15 to 24 years old living in the West and North Western areas of Melbourne.
• Oversaw care of suicidal patients and acted swiftly to reduce risk of harm to themselves or others.
• Treating psychiatrically unwell youths within the community environment.
• Triaging of all new referrals to the service
• Preforming mental health assessment and acute intervention to young people who are newly referred to the service
• Providing crisis intervention to youths, family members and other psychiatric service
• Acting up in a grade 4 capacity as “on call”
• Delectation and allocating daily tasks to co-workers
• Preceptor to student nurses.
• Administering medications in a clinical capacity as well as the community setting
• Liaising and negotiating with clients, families, other agencies and other mental health providers.
• Providing psychoeducation to clients, families and other health professionals.
• Providing care to patients and family members with culturally and linguistic diverse backgrounds

• Oversaw care of suicidal patients and acted swiftly to reduce risk of harm to themselves or others.
• Explained useful coping methods to relieve depression and anxiety.
• Educated patients and families about mental health, diagnoses and treatment options.
• Responded to numerous volatile situations and violent outbreaks to restore safety and security of patients and staff.
• Assessing client’s in home environment
• Administered medication and treatments to patients to observe and record responses.
• Triage crises calls
• Participate in ongoing staff education and training programs
• Refer patients to appropriate community services
• Developed successful discharge plans to help continuity of care upon patient release.
• Monitored vital signs, nutritional intake and signs and symptoms of complications to report deviations to supervisor.
• Monitored primary care needs for patients to coordinate access to appropriate providers.
• Evaluated patient histories, complaints, and current symptoms.
• Acting up as a Grade 4 psychiatric nurse and assessing patients within the Emergency Department
• Facilitated therapeutic communication, conflict resolution and crisis intervention by redirecting negative behaviours and helping patients regain or improve coping abilities.
• Conducted ongoing monitoring and evaluations of behaviours and conditions, and updated clinical supervisors with current information.
• Promoted patient and family comfort during challenging recoveries to enhance healing and eliminate non-compliance problems.
• Collaborated with leadership to devise initiatives for improving nursing satisfaction, retention and morale.

• Collaborated with physicians to quickly assess patients and deliver appropriate treatment while managing rapidly changing conditions.
• Administered medications via oral, IV, and intramuscular injections and monitored responses.
• Administered medications and treatment to patients and monitored responses while working with healthcare teams to adjust care plans.
• Educated patients, families and caregivers on diagnosis and prognosis, treatment options, disease process, and management and lifestyle options.
• Updated patient charts with data such as medications to keep records current and support accurate treatments.
• Pre and post operative care
• Liaise with a multidisciplinary team
• Organized and managed care of patients undergoing various therapies and procedures.
• Advocated for patients by communicating care preferences to practitioners, verifying interventions met treatment goals
• Advised patients and caregivers of proper wound management, discharge plan objectives, safe medication use, and disease management.
• Participating in ongoing staff education
• Advocating on behalf of family members
• Monitored patient condition by interpreting and tracking ECG readings, identifying irregular telemetry readings and updating team members on changes in stability or acuity.
• Oversaw delivery of care for patients on medical-surgical unit, providing direct care, delegating nursing assignments and supervising team comprised of nurses
• Evaluated patient histories, complaints, and current symptoms.
• Managed patients recovering from medical or surgical procedures.
• Quickly responded to situations impacting safety and security to unit, actualizing crisis prevention interventions to control and de-escalate situations.
• Recorded details regarding therapies to keep patient charts updated.
• Promoted patient and family comfort during challenging recoveries to enhance healing and eliminate non-compliance problems.
• Provided all nursing care needs to a patient cantered approach
• Trained new nurses and student nurses in proper techniques, care standards, operational procedures, and safety protocols.

• Collaborated with physicians to quickly assess patients and deliver appropriate treatment while managing rapidly changing conditions.
• Administered medications via oral, IV, and intramuscular injections and monitored responses.
• Administered medications and treatment to patients and monitored responses while working with healthcare teams to adjust care plans.
• Educated patients, families and caregivers on diagnosis and prognosis, treatment options, disease process, and management and lifestyle options.
• General care of patients with an acute psychiatric presentation
• Working collaboratively with multidisciplinary team
• Senior nursing staff in HDU
• Dispensing medications to 25 patients and ordering medications from pharmacy
• Liaise with psychiatrists and allied health
• Preceptor student and graduate nursing staff
• Worked as an E.C.T recovery nurse
• Shift leading as required
• Emergency relief on NCATT

• Managing the unit
• Managed staff scheduling and time off to adequately staff nursing floors and allow nurses earned time off.
• Fostered improvement in staff development, personnel training, and standards of patient care.
• Coordinated and implemented in-service educational programs focusing on safety and adherence to protocols. Held the eduction portfolio
• Trained new nurses in proper techniques, care standards, operational procedures, and safety protocols.
• Supervised, directed, and motivated high-quality performance from nursing staff.
• Preceptor to student and graduate nurses
• Liaise with multi-disciplinary team
• Participating in ongoing staff education
• Caring for psychiatrically ill mothers and their baby’s
• Advocating on behalf of mother and baby
• Allocating and delegating roles to employees
• Triaging crises calls after business hours
• Auditing education evaluation forms
• Leading and implementing daily unit programs
• Performing Mental State Examinations on patients
• Counselling patients and family members
• Administering medication to patients
• Ordered pharmacy supplies and kept check on inventory levels.
• Liaised with other healthcare professionals to develop comprehensive patient care plans and provide highest quality of care.