Grant funding to boost medication safety in Timor-Leste

14 Dec 2018

14 December 2018 

St John of God Health Care’s International Health Program was granted $60,000 under the Federal government’s new Australian Aid Friendship Grant to introduce a unique tool to build the capacity of nurses and midwives to safely prepare and administer medication.

The tool called the Injectable Medication Preparation Guidelines (IMP) will educate nurses and midwives in common medication terms and symbols, and abbreviations and instructions for calculating drug doses.

Timor-Leste Nursing Program Advisor, Kate Birrell OAM, said the grant is a huge victory for St John of God Health Care’s capacity building efforts in Timor-Leste and a step forward for improving the culture of medication safety.

“It is an important moment in time as we have not previously sought funding from DFAT, let alone been successful,” Kate said.

“We look forward to sharing our experiences and expertise, seeking new opportunities and starting what we hope will be an on-going relationship with DFAT to assist the people of Timor-Leste.”

The grant allows the International Health team to employ the IMP Project Officer, Barry Flynn, a Registered Nurse from St John of God Ballarat Hospital, who has been instrumental in the development of the IMP tool.

“Barry can now visit Timor-Leste and actively lead and participate in the introduction of the tool, firstly with the St John of God Health Care and Dili National Hospital Nurse Educators, and then the roll-out to all hospital wards,” Kate said.

“His contribution is valuable due to his currency of clinical practice, previous education and training experience in Timor-Leste and intimate knowledge of the tool.”

The tool will be available in both English and Tetun.