Tax appeal aims to take skills and drills into the F.A.S.T. lane

The Monash Health Foundation has launched its tax-time community appeal focusing on critical skills training in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

The appeal will raise funds to create the Monash Children’s Frontline Advanced Skills Training (F.A.S.T.) suite.

Director of PICU Associate Professor Felix Oberender explained that the PICU team are taking teaching and learning out of meeting rooms and on to the frontline.

“Just as pilots train for emergency landings and mid-air crises, the clinical crew that rushes to save a child’s life must continuously hone their skills,” Felix said.

“Skills and drills of some of the most critical capabilities happen inside the PICU. A tea break, a moment of calm and even a few minutes before a critical procedure are used to run through a drill or to rehearse a skill.”

Some of the equipment used for these exercises – mannequins, defibrillators and monitors – originates from a time long before the opening of the new Monash Children’s Hospital.

Funds raised through the tax-time community appeal will purchase equipment modules for the F.A.S.T. suite. These include independent component ‘packs’ focusing on resuscitation, difficult airways, point-of-care ultrasound and vascular access.

To learn more, please visit: https://monashhealthfoundation.org/2021tax/

Approved by Ron Fairchild, Director, Monash Health Foundation