CNC., Dip.Bus(Mgmt)., AFCHSE., MRCNA.

Managing Director - Clinical Services

Catherine, with her partner and husband Dr John Schmuttermaier, developed and operationalised LINCS 'Leaders IN Care Solutions', Healthcare. As one of the Managing Directors, her area is Clinical Services.

Catherine has developed a reputation for being able to think outside of the square, and for developing client focused systems that ultimately bring positive outcomes and solutions for both the client, and the healthcare services involved.

Background:

Catherine is a Clinical Nurse Consultant with extensive nursing care experience developed over approximately 30 years in the care industry. She worked for nearly 20 of these years in the acute care sector, both in the Public and Private Hospital environment. Catherine worked in the capacity of Clinical Nurse through to Clinical Nurse Manager of Orthopaedic and Day Surgery Units.

Catherine was instrumental in the development of an After-hour's Community Nursing Service, enabling Emergency Departments of major Public Hospitals to contact and arrange urgent reviews of patients either that day, or the next day. This has lead to the expedient discharge of clinically stable patients from the emergency departments to their home environment, with the rapid response follow up at home by an experienced clinical nurse.

In more recent years Catherine has turned her attention and interest to Nursing in the home environment, in particular, bridging the gap between the two, often quite separate, healthcare worlds of Hospital to Community-based services.

LINCS Healthcare, under Catherine's operational style, offers a rapid response model of care delivery, with services being in place in 24 hrs, or less if urgent.

Key Goals:

Catherine is passionate about narrowing the gap in providing efficient healthcare services to those in need:

1) By developing innovative ways of delivering healthcare and finding solutions to, at times, complex situations.

2) Re-thinking of what can be done in the home environment, safely and comfortably.

3) Bringing Cultural Change to Community Nursing.

4) Reviewing of Demand Management Strategies within Acute Care environments.

The aim and focus of Catherine's approach is based on a win/win strategy - a belief that if systems are even slightly adjusted to hold the client central, they will by nature become more efficient and effective.

Professional Bodies:

Catherine is a member of a number of professional bodies:

• The Australian College of Health Service Executives (ACHSE)

• The Royal College of Nursing Australia (RCNA)

• Ambulatory Care Australia (ACA)

Catherine has a standing formal title and recognition of ‘Associate Fellow' with the Australian College of Health Service Executives (AFCHSE).

Fields of Research Interest:

1. Client Focused vs System Focused Processes and Implications for Care Practices

2. Cultural Change

3. Hospital in the Home

4. Hospital Demand Management Strategies

5. Innovative Pathways to Healthcare Delivery