Hi, I'm Andrea. And I'm going to be talking to you today about the Improving Access for Displaced Patients project. So I'm sure that many people watching this video have been to emergency departments within Queensland as a patient or as a friend, relative, or in the professional capacity, and they've walked through on really busy days and have seen patients sitting in corridors, on beds, on chairs, or even on stretchers. And this is what our team defined as the displaced patient. They are patients who are waiting for clinical assessment areas or a treating clinician to see them. Our project aimed to implement a nurse-led model of care, which was run by nurse practitioners to improve service access for patients by having early access to a treating clinician or the nurse practitioner, to improve service efficiency by having the nurse practitioner see them as a full episode of care in a clinically-supervised area. And we hoped that this would also improve consumer satisfaction and staff satisfaction. So the EB10 Innovation Fund provided approximately $620,000 for our project, which funded three nurse practitioners. A lot of people at this stage often ask me, "What is a nurse practitioner?" So I thought I'd take the chance to explain it. So a nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who is experienced and highly skilled in an area where they can see people of all ages with acute or chronic illnesses. We've completed a master's level degree of study, and our nurse practitioner title is actually a protected title, and we have to be endorsed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. I know many of you are probably sitting there thinking, "Well, what's so innovative about nurse practitioners? They've been around for a long time. I've worked with them in emergency departments before." But there were two innovations for our project. The first one was the introduction of nurse practitioners into the Prince Charles Hospital Adult Emergency Department for the first time. And the second innovation was actually the model of care that we used. So we saw patients in the acute model of care rather than the traditional fast track or ambulatory care model that you see nurse practitioners typically work in. Now, I don't feel that any of the EB10 Innovation Funds expected a worldwide pandemic, and certainly didn't incorporate it into the project plan. I know I certainly didn't. However, I think that COVID-19 actually had little impact on our project. While our workflow dramatically changed in our emergency department, as the nurse practitioners, we continued to work in our green area or the non-infectious area, completing full episodes of care on patients who presented. So a project outcome of significant interest for us was that the nurse practitioners showed that they could actually work in an acute model of care and complimented the traditional medical workforce model of care that we typically see in these areas. Our patients that we saw were seen sooner, discharged quicker, and were extremely satisfied with the care that they received. I think this actually influenced and helped us to secure permanent funding for nurse practitioners. And at the time of filming, we're actually in the recruitment stage. We've also inspired registered nurses within our department to go and enrol in a master's degree of nurse practitioners as they have seen this as a new career pathway for them. I hope that you've found this presentation from the Nursing & Midwifery Showcase Series informative. Please take some time to check out the other projects that highlight nursing and midwifery excellence in Queensland Health.