Astra Healthcare » BLOG

Astra Healthcare News – 27th June 2011

trish — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:04:17 +0000

I am very pleased to welcome you to the first of our regular newsletters with latest happenings from Astra.

Winter is here and we expect to continue to increase our work for the next few months. Certainly the beginning of this year has been busy as the Private Hospitals look forward to a fantastic year and the Public Hospitals remain steady.

Up and Coming Events

Infection Control Study Day – Friday 8th July. This study covers prevention through hand hygiene, hand washing, cleaning monitoring and management of infection. By attending this study day, you will earn a total of 3 hours towards your nursing professional development hours and one star on your Astra Healthcare study day incentive card.
Next Coffee Drop In – Tuesday 5th July 10am – Open to all staff. A chance to meet the rest of the team, debrief, share info. We will be meeting at the NEW office and look forward to showing you around.
Mid Winter Xmas Party – You are invited to the Astra Social club’s first event organised by Claire, Noelle, Mo and Steph. Saturday the 16th of July 7pm at the Blarney Stone (up the stairs) Molly Malones pub, Courtenay Place. There is a prize for the best Christmas inspired outfit. Should be a fun night!

You can find more information on our events at our Facebook page and also on the Astra website. Please Contact Geline by email to enrol for any of our study days.

New Shift Booking System

We are excited to be introducing our new online staff booking system over the next few weeks.

This will make your life a lot easier! Nurses can edit and update their availabilites online and Hospitals eventually will also have direct access to the system.

New Wellington Office

We are very pleased to be moving to a new office on the 1st of July, just around the corner to Level 7, ANZAC House, 181 Willis Street, Wellington. Map link. The new building has an interview room within our area, two working lifts, is earthquake proofed and we have access to a large training room – Yay. We look forward to giving you the tour. All phone numbers and postal addresses will remain unchanged.

Astra is now on Facebook!

We now have an awesome Facebook page. Please visit the page and “like” us so you can post to our wall, interact with other users, and be the first to know about our events and news.

Lastly I personally would like to thank the Astra Healthcare team for their continued hard work and dedication. Each one of our nurses are stars – we have been requiring a lot of you recently and everyone is always keen to step up when it is busy. Thank you!

Kind regards

Trish Stevens
Managing Director

Astra Healthcare is New Zealand’s premier provider of specialist nurses and healthcare assistants. We specialise in placing experienced Critical Care Nurses in temporary or short term contracts and permanent recruitment with leading NZ hospitals.

Follow Us:

Wellington:

Phone: +64-4-385 4316

Fax: +64-4-831 1305

Auckland:

Phone: +64-9-950 4807

Fax: +64-9-950 4803

Christchurch:

Phone: +64-3-741 1272

www.astrahealthcare.co.nz

unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

We have moved to ANZAC House

trish — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:15:02 +0000

Astra’s Head office has moved to Level 7, ANZAC House, 181 Willis Street (just around the corner), Wellington. We look forward to giving you the tour. Check out our contact page to see a google map http://www.astrahealthcare.co.nz/contact/ All phone numbers and postal addresses will remain unchanged – cheers Trish

First Aid Kits – Assist A&E!

trish — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:12:17 +0000

Here at Astra Healthcare we believe in being practical and ensuring that if you or your child needs to be seen by a Health Professional you have given your ailments or injuries the best opportunity for healing. Basic First Aid Kits are essential and it’s important to keep them current and be familiar with first aid practice. Creams, lotions and potions can be good but all sorts are on the market and some can do more harm than good, especially if brought forward from the back of the cupboard from some ancient time zone.

You should have a complete first aid kit in your home,

If you can’t buy a complete kit or would prefer to make one up yourself, the following list is recommended by The Order of St. John as a minimum guide suitable for families:

● Card listing local emergency numbers but if you are unsure call 111

● Triangular bandages (2)

● Roller bandages – 50 mm (1 roll) and 75mm (2 rolls)

● Sterile gauze – 7.5cm x 7.5 cm (2)

● Adhesive wound dressing – 6cm wide x 1 metre long (1 strip)

● Plasters (1 packet)

● Paracetamol (1 packet)

● Adhesive tape – 25 mm (1 roll)

● Sterile non-adhesive pads – small (2) and large (3)

● Sterile eye pad (1)

● Eye wash container (1)

● Eye wash solution 30 ml (1)

● Antiseptic solution 30 ml (4)

● Safety pins (1 card)

● Scissors (1 pair)

● Tweezers (1 pair)

● Disposable gloves (2 pair)

● First aid manual

Doing a first Aid course is great fun and very helpful, contact St John or your local Plunket office for more information.

Astra Healthcare enjoys bringing you helpful hints and tips – we hope it helps when accidents occur!

Trish Stevens.

Trish’s thoughts on solving the Nursing Shortage

astra123 — Fri, 21 May 2010 03:58:36 +0000

Help fix the nursing shortage!

We all know that there is a shortage of nurses – not only in New Zealand but worldwide, we see stories about it everyday in the newspapers and on the news.

Talking to my friends, who like me were nursing before we had children or were semi-retired and finding that also like me they wanted to work part time but can only work some days and these days change weekly because of family or other commitments or they are just too busy some weeks. All of this makes it almost impossible to take on a part-time job in the usual way. All of these fantastic nurses are very, very experienced often having been in positions of management. A lot have worked in critical care units and specialise in critical care nursing and of course these areas have the biggest shortage of nursing staff.

With the current shortage of nurses we decided this was such a waste but what could we do about it?

We took action and set up a Wellington based nursing agency offering experienced nurses work in hospitals all over the Wellington region, when they want it and for as many or as few days as they can fit into their busy lives. This agency is run by nurses for nurses, by people passionate about not only healthcare but also Wellington and its communities.

Nurses who work for us let us know when they are available and we find them work that best fits their skills and experience at that point in time. Some can only work weekends, some do not like to work nights etc but all want some part time work. We all want to be valued so we provide the work people want, give them support to do it, and pay them well – and everyone benefits!

We would love others looking for more flexible work to join us.

If you are interested in finding out more please get in touch – we are looking forward to working with you to help reduce the nursing shortage.

Trish Stevens.