AONA NSW has a brand new committee in 2023, and always welcomes new committee members. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you are interested.
Name: Wassim El Abed
Role: CNC2 Orthopaedics | President AONA NSW
Which facility/service do you cover? I cover Royal North Shore Hospitals, general orthopaedic and orthopaedic spine elective and emergency cases. We have upper and lower limb specialists along with pelvis specialists. I support and consult on patients in our paediatric unit, patients admitted to our trauma service and our orthopaedic patients on outlying wards.
Tell us about your Orthopaedic background: I began my new grad year in 2013 on the Orthopaedic ward at Royal North Shore hospital. I then then worked my way through CNS/AHCNE/CNC in Ortho/Trauma nursing all while studying and working towards my Master of Clinical Nursing (Orthopaedic Nursing) through UTAS. I have done a significant amount of work around same day discharge post joint replacement surgery. I have an interest in quality care of the hip fracture patient and fragility fracture management. I also have a strong enthusiasm for wound and pin site infection prevention along with traction management and application. I have a raging passion for orthopaedic nursing as a specialty and I really want to empower our orthopaedic nurses to champion orthopaedic nursing as a respectable specialty that adds value to the care of our patients. I am a firm believer that there needs to be more senior orthopaedic nursing positions available and that our patients have better outcomes when cared for on orthopaedic units by orthopaedic nurses. I have an interest in orthopaedic specific skills and knowledge and have a desire to be heavily involved in assisting to redevelop ANZONA’s Australian orthopaedic nursing “competency framework” to be more robust.
Name: Melissa Davis
Role: CNC2 Orthopaedics | Treasurer AONA NSW
Which facility/service do you cover? I cover Campbelltown/Camden Hospitals, general orthopaedics, primarily emergency presentations with a focus on hip fracture care.
Tell us about your Orthopaedic background. I began my new grad year in 2010 in the Orthopaedic ward at Royal North Shore Hospital. I spent some time in the fracture clinic, then worked my way through CNS/CNE/CNC in Ortho/Trauma nursing. I have found a strong passion in finding standard pathways for patients, which helps them with their expectations and our ability to provide expert care in a timely and efficient way. Since commencing at Campbelltown/Camden in 2023, I have begun work on standard pathways for hip fracture and hope to reduce our length of stay in ED.
