A newly appointed paediatric team at Caboolture Hospital is bringing a wave of enhanced expertise and dedicated care to children and families in the community.
The team – comprising four new medical experts with a combined 97 years of experience between them – will support and streamline paediatric services at the hospital.
The emergency department and the paediatric emergency services at the hospital were relocated to the new Clinical Services building and have been in operation since 6 December. To ensure a better patient experience, a separate paediatric triage and waiting area has been initiated. The new roles aim to support better operation of the paediatric ED area, as well as across care on the ward and in outpatient areas at Caboolture Hospital.
Meet the Team Leading the Way
The new staff include:
- Dr Rajeev Jarugula – Clinical Director for the paediatric emergency department.
- Rebekah Rawson – Associate Nurse Unit Manager for the paediatric emergency department.
- Dr Michelle Davison – Medical Director of the emergency service line, overseeing Caboolture adult and paediatric emergency departments, Kilcoy Hospital, Woodford Corrections Health, Bribie Island Satellite Hospital (Yarun), and Caboolture Satellite Hospital (Kabul).
- Kylie Sykes – Assistant Nursing Director for paediatrics.
For Rebekah Rawson, who has been in nursing now for 25 years, her role as the Associate Nurse Unit Manager entails managing the day-to-day running of the paediatric emergency department, taking care of staffing and making sure care is delivered as per the children’s health guidelines.
“A big part of my role is making sure we build a really good team and look after the community as best we can,” Rebekah said.
“I’ve always worked in a critical care stream and done a lot of different things and a lot of education and I just found that I’ve become really passionate about providing really good care in a paediatric setting because one of my children was born unwell.
“For me, I know what it is like to be a parent as well as a nurse, so working in paediatrics is something I’m really passionate about. I loved it from the start and felt like I could make a difference.”
Making the move to Caboolture and joining a good team of nurses and doctors, Rebekah is all about spreading positivity.
“Every day I have little positive mantras that I like to read out in the huddle,” Rebekah said. “I just try and bring positivity into every day. My main aim is to make sure that everyone feels happy at work. Everyone has to be smiling and have fun because that’s why we work with kids. Every child that comes in, I treat them like how I would want my child to be treated because that’s what I’ve learned from my own experience.”
To describe Dr Michelle Davison as one busy doctor would probably be a bit of an understatement. Along with her role as the Medical Director of the emergency service line, Dr Davison also works clinically in her specialty as an adult and paediatric specialist emergency physician in the Caboolture ED regularly.
“Emergency departments are organised chaos and one of the challenges in running both is finding the balance,” Dr Davison said. “Every day is different and our emergency clinicians have to make rapid assessments and be flexible to meet the needs of the hour and the day.”
A path into the medical world was inevitable for Dr Davison, following in the footsteps of fellow family members.
“As an emergency doctor, my job is meaningful, enriching, humbling, exhausting, all-encompassing and I couldn’t imagine doing anything different,” Dr Davison said. “I am excited at the opportunity we have to improve care at Caboolture, our new ED, the staff that are bolstering our existing dedicated workforce and working with our community, I think we will see great changes.”
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- Caboolture Connect
