OVERVIEW

The Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Nursing Service offers a challenging, diverse and rewarding career with ample opportunities for professional development and advancement. RAH nurses are guided by a set of values outlined in its Nursing Vision Statement. The Nursing Service provides professional and clinical governance and support for nurses at RAH.

Royal Adelaide Hospital is the oldest and largest acute tertiary and secondary hospital in South Australia and is considered a leader in healthcare. It provides a specific range of tertiary referral services to the people of South Australia and the nearby states and territories.

Royal Adelaide Hospital Nurses have been integral to the success of the hospital from its colonial beginnings in 1837 through to today. The hospital has produced and continues to produce excellent nurse leaders over generations, many who hold senior posts in nursing, health services, and the political arenas locally, nationally and internationally.

The Royal Adelaide Hospital is known nationally and internationally for its work in retrieval services, hyperbaric medicine, haematology, acute pain management and spinal injuries and is the largest trauma centre for the state. Specialist services include adult intensive care, renal dialysis, burns and plastics, bone marrow transplantation, maxillo-facial surgery, spinal, orthopaedics, cardio-thoracic, neuro-surgery, together with general surgery, medicine and acute care.

Royal Adelaide Hospital collaborates with Adelaide’s three universities in providing medical and nursing education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It is also involved in various areas of medical and health research, often in conjunction with the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS) and is affiliated with the Hanson Institute.

Royal Adelaide Hospital has approximately 550 beds and is situated in the centre of the city of Adelaide which is the capital city of South Australia, adjacent to the University of Adelaide and the Botanic Gardens, cafes and fine restaurants of Rundle Street, art galleries, theatres, and museums and shopping. Adelaide enjoys a delightful Mediterranean climate and is bordered by beautiful beaches and world renowned wineries. Due to its central location access to the hospital via public transport is no problem.

Nursing Administration consists of a team of nurses who perform a range of functions that support the activities of the hospital. Nursing, Anaesthesia, Allied Health and General Services supports the Functional Services in the recruitment, quality management and resource management of the nursing services.

The Nursing Service uses a fully computerised clinical information system - ExcelCare - which generates the nursing care plan, enables patient outcome measurement and determines hours per patient day, which interface with the rostering system - ProAct - to provide costing data and assist staffing modelling. These clinical systems are supported by nursing staff in Nursing, Anaesthesia, Allied Health and General Services.

The management of the hospital is devolved to Functional Services, each headed by a Nursing and Clinical Director who equally share the management of the Service. They are assisted by a Resource Accountant Consultant and an Administrative Manager.
Although the management of the hospital has been devolved to Functional Services, nursing still maintains a corporate nursing entity in respect to professional issues and strategic planning. The Director of Nursing has an expanded role that incorporates the Anaesthetic, General Services and Allied Health.

The hospital has a Staff Development Department that is also a Registered Training Organisation that provides and coordinates a wide range of courses, study days and workshops. This department also coordinates the hospital orientation sessions and the the Transition to Professional practice program.

Established in collaboration with Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Discipline of Nursing at the University of Adelaide has been delivering postgraduate clinical education to RNs around the world since 1995 and; since 2006 has been offering an innovative undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing degree. The focus of the Discipline is on providing postgraduate and undergraduate education with excellence in clinical practice and high quality research in nursing practice. Nurses at RAH are encouraged to undertake the post graduate program relevant to their area of practice. The hospital supports nurses who pursue tertiary studies and they may be supported by paid study leave or fee subsidies.
The Joanna Briggs Institute is an international research organisation focusing on best practice and clinical practice improvement. JBI headquarters is located at Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The Centre for Evidence Based Nursing South Australia is also based at Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Clinical Leadership Programme in Australia™

The Clinical Leadership Programme in Australia™ is a highly successful two tiered professional development programme designed developed and supported by the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom. In 2003, at the initiative of Dr Leslye Long, Director of Nursing, Anaesthesia, Allied Health and General Services Royal Adelaide Hospital, and funded by the South Australian Department of Health through the Office of the Chief Nurse, South Australia led the way in bringing the Clinical Leadership Programme to Australia.

Conducted under licence from the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom, the Clinical Leadership Programme focuses on developing health professionals involved with both the operational aspect of health care and the implementation and delivery aspect of health care. In nursing/midwifery in South Australia, this is generally the Nursing Directors (operations) and Clinical Nurse Consultants/Managers (delivery).

The central focus of the programme is enhancement of safe quality care, with the objectives of:

• Developing how care is organised, implemented and sustained by developing leadership strategies to deal with the realities of day to day practice
• Facilitating professional development to enhance practice
• Developing organisational culture to support person centred leadership and health care policy

The Clinical Leadership Programme in Australia™ is conducted over 12-18 months and provides substantial ongoing professional support, enabling challenge to personal and professional paradigms, with the aim of improving both practice and workplace culture. The programme works proactively with participating organisations and individuals to impact positively on the person, the health care team, the organisation and health care policy agendas.

The theoretical developmental framework that guides the programme, involves:

• learning to manage self
• building, developing and managing effective relationships
• focusing on the person receiving care
• networking
• increasing political awareness

“The CLP is not just about leadership of your staff and your patient care but it is about leadership of the profession and our future” ( Clinical Leader 2003/4)

For further information about the Clinical Leadership Programme in South Australia, please contact:

For further information about the Clinical Leadership Programme in other Australian States, please contact: