Today we chat with Dr Toni Hains. Toni is a Nurse Practitioner who has gone on to do her PhD comparing patient and surgical outcomes between medical and non-medical surgical assistants who assist surgeons perform surgical operations.

Toni is highly regarded in the cardiac field as a surgical assistant to cardio-thoracic surgeons in Brisbane and The Gold Coast.

She has been fighting for improved MBS rights for NSMA’s who are skilled surgical assistants. Currently, these fees are paid for by the patient or the surgeon.

Toni discusses the toll this ongoing bureaucratic battle has taken on her. How she has been abused by patients refusing to pay their bills, and how deciding to do her PhD was a pathway she was determined to take to help her prove the value of nurses as surgical assistants. 

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