Dear Caring for You Nurses,

 Some helpful facts and hints in regards to Manual Handling:

·      - As defined by the ANF, “Manual Handling is any activity that requires the use of force exerted by a person to lift, carry, lower, push, pull move or hold any item. Manual handling involves performing repetitive activities, sustained muscle exertion and fixed postures.”

·      - Fortunately most manual handling injuries are preventable if workplace policies and safe work practices are followed.

·      - Patients should be encouraged (when safe to do so) to assist in their own transfers.

Manual Handling 

·      - Mechanical lifting aids help reduce risk of injury to both healthcare workers and patient’s/resident’s. Healthcare workers must follow the current “Workplace Health and Safety Act.

·      The two most common manual handling injuries include sprains and strains of the musculoskeletal system.

·      All healthcare workers who handle activities are at risk of an injury.

·      To decrease the risk of a manual handling injury occurring, healthcare workers need to identify, assess and manage risks.

·     Risk factors can include environmental hazards (wet floors), a non-co-operative patient/resident, unsuitable equipment, and staff shortages. 

·     Our thigh muscles are the strongest muscles in our body.

·     During transfers, first bend and then slowly straighten the knees.

·     Always ask for assistance from fellow workers. Teamwork is important to ensure we are all SAFE in our workplace.

·     It is not until we sustain an injury that we realise how much we take our bodies for granted.

·     If you have any manual handling or “no lIft” queries please do not hesitate to email laurenm@caringforyou.net.au

Thank you members for taking the time to read our education blogs.

Kind Regards,

Lauren McIver

Nurse Educator

How to Gain and Prepare For an Interview at Caring For You

Hello potential Caring For You Members!

I want to pass on some pointers to help you to gain an interview with Caring for You. 
Want to stand out? This is what we look for in a resume:

• ·       Outline your qualification/s and where you have studied
• ·       Agency can be daunting for even the most experienced staff and ideally we want you to be experienced. A minimum of 6 months experience within the industry to be exact! This allows you to be able to go to all different workplaces and feel confident to get the job done.
• ·       If you are a Nurse who has recently graduated we like you to have had some exposure to the Health industry preferably as a PCA or as an EEN. On your Resume include where you have completed your Clinical placements.
• ·       We also need to see that you have all documents up to date and current. These include First Aid, CPR, Police Check, WWCC & of course AHPRA Registration.
• ·       Overall, we are looking for staff members that have a genuine passion for the Health industry and are reliable and suitable for Agency work. We need staff members that will answer their phone and are excited to be a part of our team.

These are some of the main points and probably the most important points we are looking for at the start of the recruitment process. It is easier to have attached your Resume at the application process for us to assess.

Our Recruitment process starts from the moment you submit your interest via our website. Our team looks over every single application that comes in by viewing your Resume and looking for the main points outlined above.

We will contact you over the phone and go through some questions relating to your experience and what it is you would like to gain from your employment with us.

If you tick the boxes for what we are looking for we will invite you in for an interview, which is very different to other Agencies out there.

We take the interview process very seriously and it is definitely not a given that if you have an interview that you will get to work with us.

You will be required to complete the registration process which is basically entering in all details including Training, Immunisations, Financial details Etc. We also encourage you to present like you would for any other interview and have all documents required in physical form as well.

We really value references! This is the hardest part of our process! We need you to have a minimum of 2 references that we are able to contact before your interview with us. Once your interview has been completed along with References then you will become a Member of our Agency!

Thanks,

Britt, Recruitment Manager