By Matthew Sims
The personal ventilation hood designed to fit over a hospital bed and the upper body of COVID-19 patients known as the ‘McMonty Medihood’ was among a number of initiatives delivered across Western Health honoured with a nomination in the 2022 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards recently.
In the ‘Improving healthcare through clinical research’ category, Western Health received a nomination for the technology, which involves a small fan and special filter extract aerosol droplets, significantly reducing the risk of COVID transmission from patient to healthcare worker.
Western Health anaesthetist and intensivist Dr Forbes McGain took the concept of the ‘hood’ to the University of Melbourne’s Engineering Department in 2020 and said he was thrilled it was now in widespread use.
“It was a very stressful, difficult time in the early stages of the pandemic,” he said.
“There was no vaccine available and we really didn’t know what we were dealing with, but it was also a wonderful time to collaborate.
“There was a lot of fear among healthcare workers and it was really important that we found a way to protect our staff, particularly our nursing staff, from the unknown.”
Western Health also received nominations in the awards for its Western Health’s COVID Pathways program in the ‘Improving integration of care for patients with chronic and complex healthcare needs’ category, provided monitoring and support for COVID-19 cases in the community who required additional care and assessed patients for their suitability to receive early COVID therapies that aim to reduce the risk of hospitalisation or emergency department attendance.
The state government also nominated its ‘Predict, prevent, priority: safety’ – an approach to OVA management’ strategy, which addressed the prevention of occupational violence and aggression, in the ‘Improving workforce wellbeing and safety’ category, while the launch of a new Aboriginal Outpatient Clinic in 2021 received a nomination in the ‘Improving Aboriginal health’ category.
The winners of the awards will be announced on Thursday, October 13.
