New NP says kidneys are the best

It’s fair to say Catherine Tischler has developed quite a fixation with kidneys, though this wasn’t always the case. 

For several years, Catherine has overseen treatment in Dialysis at Wimmera Cancer Centre as the Associate Nurse Unit Manager of that department. While the role was stimulating and rewarding, she also felt hamstrung at times because of a constant reliance on medical staff to maintain the flow of care. 

Catherine decided the best solution was to further her studies and become a Nurse Practitioner – the highest clinical position a nurse can achieve. 

“It got to the point where too often I was relying on others to do things. The medical teams at the hospital are very busy so being able to increase my scope of practice has freed up time for them as well,” Catherine said. 

“Because there is no medical staff permanently in Dialysis, processes like updating medication charts previously involved multiple parties. In fact, prior to the merger, the specialist medical staff were all based in Melbourne,” she said. 

“Now that I’m a nurse practitioner, I can help streamline care and reduce the workload on the medical teams in the hospital.” 

Catherine said despite the two intense years of study required, she was genuinely interested in becoming an NP and had chosen to specialise in dialysis and chronic kidney disease. 

“I really like the kidneys. They are seriously the best organ in the whole body. 

“The kidneys functioning impacts numerous body symptoms. They are closely linked to cardiac health and anaemia management for example. Our patients have complex care needs which I also find very interesting. 

“I also like task-orientated work and Dialysis is definitely that. It requires a lot of coordination and order of process which I find very satisfying work.” 

As a young Enrolled Nurse, Catherine moved to Horsham from Geelong a decade ago because she wanted to experience rural nursing and enjoy a country lifestyle where there would be space for her dogs to run around. When she started at Wimmera Base Hospital, she began her graduate program into registered nursing, working in aged care, district nursing and the Oxley acute ward. 

Then she was asked if she wanted to work in Dialysis. Catherine said she agreed to that opportunity but when she got home that night, she had to look up the meaning of Dialysis. 

“I spent six months in Dialysis and then I went to ED for a while until a permanent position came up in Dialysis,” she said. 

“When Dialysis moved to the newly built Wimmera Cancer Centre, I moved there with the department but I also picked up a day each week in chemotherapy and one day in Palliative Care.

Catherine said renal care in Horsham had been expanded since Grampians Health introduced the Ballarat Renal HUB with newer equipment and increased resources. 

“When I first started working in Dialysis, I realised how very much under-resourced country hospitals are, compared to the city,” she said. 

“We are getting better at this since the merger but more supportive specialist care for dialysis patients can make quite a difference with care provision and symptom management after diagnosis. 

“Hopefully, the day will come when every patient has a nephrologist, a dietitian and renal psychologist consulting in one single meeting, like they do in the city. Then, depending on the goals of each patient, with good supportive care programs, patients may choose not to undergo dialysis but opt for symptom management. 

“Dialysis is a big undertaking for the patients. The usual schedule is four hours on the machine, three days a week, every week. This doesn’t include travel time which can be up to an hour and a half one way. 

“This affects their ability to go on holidays and manage work commitments.” Grampians Health Chief Operations Officer Ben Kelly said his team had been developing programs to build on the existing strengths of the dialysis service in Horsham. 

“Cathy’s upskilling ties perfectly to the development. We’ve also appointed a renal health educator to work at both Horsham and Ballarat and we’ve introduced a home dialysis service,” Mr Kelly said. 

*Dialysis is the process of removing excess water, solutes and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys no longer function naturally.