22
Global and Indigenous health feature
Nursing webinars in the Pacific The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ Global Health programs all saw a significant change in operations and programming due to COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions. The Pacific Island Program (PIP), which typically mobilises between 40–50 medical teams across 11 Pacific Island countries each year, had to cease the travel of all volunteers. In order to continue supporting Pacific countries during this difficult time, the programs pivoted to online and remote support activities. Online nursing forums, which have been held in cooperation with the Pacific Community (SPC) and members of the Australian College of Perioperative Nurses (ACORN) are a key source of information and support for nurses across the Pacific regarding COVID-19 preparedness and training. Mabel Taoi is project coordinator for the Clinical Services Program at SPC’s Public Health Division, and she has 11 years experience engaging with Pacific Island countries. She spoke about the exciting achievement for nursing in the region at the first Pacific Heads of Nursing and Midwifery meeting in February 2020.
Fortunately, the meeting was held just before the closure of borders due to COVID-19. “In hindsight,” Ms Taoi said, “the meeting was strategically timed, as it strengthened the nursing leadership networks before the COVID-19 pandemic that followed immediately after.” Sally Sutherland-Fraser was also at the February meeting. She met with Ms Taoi, ACORN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rebecca East; Ruth Melville, Past President of ACORN and the Ambassador for the Pacific and Papua New Guinea for the International Federation of Perioperative Nurses (IFPN); and the new Australian Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Allison McMillan. The group was concerned about the pandemic unfolding internationally and agreed it was an opportunity to link Pacific nurses with the nurses in Australia, Ms Sutherland-Fraser said. “As COVID-19 escalated we kept talking to Ms Taoi about accessing more training, trying to think what we could do.” RACS was already using the webinar forum format for other training, and
it seemed like a natural fit for the collaboration and connection initiated at the first Pacific Heads of Nursing and Midwifery meeting. The selection of topics for the webinars emerged in a number of ways. From surveys undertaken after the first ‘talanoa’ (open discussion) session implemented by SPC, during the online chat discussions, through email responses and via feedback from previous sessions. Topics covered include the appropriate use of personal protective equipment, infection prevention and control, environmental cleaning, cleaning and reprocessing of equipment, airway management and patient care in relation to managing COVID-19. The forums are hosted by RACS and facilitated by SPC with panellists such as Fellows and members of ACORN, the Australian College of Peri-Anaesthesia Nurses (ACPAN) and the Royal Melbourne Intensive Care Unit. They are organised by Margaret Leong, the SPC Infection Prevention and Control Advisor. Pacific nurses are very involved in the format and content of these online sessions through nominating topics and presenting to their fellow nursing colleagues across the Pacific on cases, processes and trainings that have been put in place to ensure COVID-19 readiness across their hospitals. “Principles are important,” Ms Sutherland-Fraser said. “We need to respect the knowledge and wisdom that comes from the Pacific. They know best how the information needs to be applied in their settings and their cultural context. We make sure there’s a lot of time for discussion and focus on what’s available for them to use.”
The operating room nursing team from the National Referral Hospital, Honiara, Solomon Islands participating in an online nursing webinar on hospital preparedness for COVID-19
Ms Sutherland-Fraser said that Ms Taoi was acutely aware of the need to tailor the information presented to the different contexts of the nurses dialling in, and has
