Bass Coast Health (BCH) continues to expand the learning opportunities available to staff across the organisation.
The growth of BCH’s Learning and Development team has resulted in a greater variety of training options available to clinical and non-clinical staff, which in turn benefits patients and consumers, and assists with staff retention and recruitment.
Among the new staff to join the Learning and Development team is Clinical Development Physiotherapist Dr Cassie McDonald.
“I’m hoping that our carefully designed, structured and interdisciplinary New Graduate program, which includes individualised support for our graduates who are working in their first role since completing their studies, will help to entice more physiotherapists to Bass Coast Health,” she said.
Dr McDonald has joined the Allied Health Education team at BCH to support the Graduate Physiotherapy Program for graduate physiotherapists. The comprehensive program provides additional support to the graduates as they complete rotations throughout various settings within the health service, from seeing inpatients rehabilitating after surgery through to outpatients recovering from injury and other conditions. This extra learning assists the graduates as they build experience and confidence working in a busy, fast-paced hospital environment.
She also supports physiotherapy students during their clinical placements at BCH, assists physiotherapy staff who are supervising graduates and students, and develops training resources.
“We have strong existing partnerships with Monash University and we are building a partnership with the new physiotherapy program at Federation University’s Gippsland campus,” Dr McDonald said.
Dr McDonald comes to BCH with clinical experience as a physiotherapist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital in gerontology outpatient rehabilitation, working with older adults with health conditions related to ageing such as osteoarthritis, balance disorders and dementia.
She has run research programs across The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Sunshine Hospital, and has a PhD, for which she studied health literacy.
“We came to the Bass Coast from Melbourne and my partner and I are loving living in the area,” Dr McDonald said.
“Our students and new graduates are our future workforce. I am passionate about providing them with evidence-informed, learner-centred experiences. Ultimately, our training and support programs aim to benefit the quality and safety of patient care.
“I love being a part of the team that helps our patients to achieve their goals and get back to what was important to them prior to their illness or injury.”