Hospitals and Healthcare

An analysis of six years of data from more than 80 hospitals and more than 192,000 employees in Victoria, Australia, adds to the evidence that employee engagement in their jobs matters. It found that happier workers improved hospital performance in terms of hospital costs, treatment effectiveness, and hospital-acquired infections and conditions. In particular, the research identifies three key ways to boost engagement: prioritizing patient and staff safety, building a culture of accountability, and providing proof that new practices will be worthwhile.

Two and a half years after the death of Noah Souvatzis, an emergency department doctor says he is kept up at night by unacceptable patient waiting times.

Taranaki hospitals have made big inroads into the nursing shortage with the number of nurses needed now in single figures.

Resignations undermine efforts to recruit tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and midwives needed to relieve stress on the overburdened health system and staff new hospitals.

Those who come here make many sacrifices to support our healthcare system. It is our duty to judge them fairly and treat them well

A largely unspoken issue in this pandemic is its effect on trainee registrar and junior doctors.

There is increasing concern about rising rates of mental ill-health and suicide among doctors.

In hospitals, housekeepers do more than janitorial work. They interact with patients — sometimes more than doctors — and they do so with great compassion.

Already problems before the pandemic, burnout and turnover among hospitals’ clinical staff have become a crisis. One way to combat them is to design hospitals that promote staff well-being. This article offers three lessons about how to create such supportive environments.

Dr Matthew Isfahani says his workload as a junior doctor at Concord and Canterbury hospitals left him and his family at breaking point.

Around one current or former emergency services worker dies from suicide every month. For military veterans, that rate is one every single week. Their families need support.

Ongoing COVID-19 and other winter virus cases, as well as the state’s looming elective surgery backlog, are continuing to place pressure on hospitals.

Nurses say they have been abused, threatened and assaulted in the town of Bourke. They are afraid the threat of violence is compromising the care of patients at the local hospital.

Aishwarya Aswath died from an infection while waiting in emergency department

I couldn’t watch people get the all-clear after my mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer in my department