A fellowship of nurses and doctors from the Solomon Islands have observed Barwon Health clinical practices in a cross-cultural and organisations exchange.
Two groups of six clinical staff from the National Referral Hospital in Honiara have spent about six weeks at University Hospital Geelong, supported by grants from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades.
Each clinician had a training plan and took opportunities to observe a range of activities including practices, specialty ward environments, staff interactions, clinical governance, guidelines, policies and procedures.
Senior paediatric registrar Dr John Taniamae said he was interested in seeing how Barwon Health teams collaborated and the way staff interacted with patients.
“I think coming here is eye-opening to see how we can integrate the little things we’ve learned, so we’re very grateful for this opportunity,” he said.
“There are little gaps we can fill in terms of our clinical work and I know having our clinical staff experience an environment like this will help them see what they can do with our more limited resources and facilities at home.
“It’s quite a big difference to the facilities and the resources that we have available, and it’s been very interesting to see how staff approach the patient and the infection prevention measures.”
Barwon Health chief medical officer Dr Ajai Verma said the organisation was grateful for the grant, and excited to pilot a clinical exchange program between the paediatric units.
“This is a great opportunity to enhance and formalise organisational and people-to-people relationships between our two countries and support health capability building in the Asia Pacific region,” Dr Verma said.
“Barwon Health clinicians have volunteered in Solomon Islands in the past and we feel privileged to be able to host the six awardees and support the development of clinical skills and practices that will benefit their local communities.
“We look forward to maintaining these relationships once they return home.”
