Season 2 Episode 3: Mark Carter, MACH Health: Shaping the Future of Nurse Wellbeing

Nurses’ wellbeing has hit crisis point — is there any hope? 

 
In this episode of The Hurdle2Hope® Show, I sit down with Mark Carter, Founder of MACH Health, who brings 22 years of nursing and healthcare experience to the table. Having seen firsthand the physical, emotional, and systemic pressures pushing nurses to breaking point, Mark is on a mission to change the story. 

We talk about the alarming stats, the human cost of burnout, and why the future for nurses looks bleak unless we act now. Mark shares how MACH Health — a platform for nurses, about nurses, by nurses — is taking a proactive approach to help nurses prioritise their physical, mental, sleep, and nutritional wellbeing. 

This is more than a conversation about self-care — it’s about changing the narrative and prioritising the health and wellbeing of frontline staff. 

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS: 

• Why nurses’ wellbeing is a critical public health issue 
• The hidden toll of burnout on frontline workers 
• How proactive systems can replace reactive “band-aid” fixes 
• Why lived experience matters in shaping healthcare solutions 

SHOW RESOURCES: 

• MACH Health Website: www.machhealth.com.au 
• MACH Health App — Available on Google Play and Apple App Store 
• Hurdle2Hope: Professional development for the health, disability, and aged care sectors 

Unexpected hurdles interrupt all of our lives. It is how you respond that will define your experience.

To find out how Hurdle2Hope can support you or your organisation please visit hurdle2hope.com.

I would love to connect with you, Teisha.

Also, are you following @hurdle2hope on social media... I would love to see you there!

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Transcript

Episode 2.3 Mark Carter, MACH Health: Shaping the Future of Nurse Wellbeing

 [00:00:00] 

Teisha Rose: Well, hey there, Teisha here, and welcome to The Hurdle2Hope® Show Live from Daisy Hill. And my gosh, how my life has changed. I'm actually taking you up here because I told Andrew I would check out a rock that he has placed in front of one of my favorite trees. So I'm checking it out and I thought I would do the intro from here.

So I'm now sitting on the rock and look at that beautiful sunset behind me. I might be looking a bit tired. I had a, a big week, I went to Melbourne for a couple of days. For those who don't live locally in Australia, Melbourne is the capital city of the state I live in. About two hours or so from home, and it was. A great week. Really enjoyed, staying in a beautiful hotel.

But also I ran a frontline worker wellbeing workshop. I, [00:01:00] yeah, you get nervous before you meet a group of people. These were NDIS service providers, so those providing service. To, um, in the disability sector and my three Stages to Thrive Framework and The Hurdle2Hope® Roadmap.

You know, these are all concepts that I've created and gosh, it feels so good when you are delivering those workshops and you really connect with people. So if you're listening, to this podcast and I met you this last week. Thank you so much. I had such an incredible time. It's, yeah, it's really re-energizing me, in terms of knowing that what I'm sharing is connecting and it will help you as frontline workers, but also those who you are supporting.

But I also think it's really important to remember that frontline staff are just like you and I in terms of dealing with their own interruptions in life and lots of what I share [00:02:00] on The Hurdle2Hope® Show and through my business is all about helping all of us to move forward. So it's very timely, that today's episode is all about nursing wellbeing.

And I'll just move this around a little bit because gosh, it's looking so beautiful. I'm a bit distracted. Sorry. , And. I'm speaking to Mark Carter, the founder of MACH Health. Very excited. So towards the end, I'll share how Mark and I are doing something in partnership, which is very exciting. But Mark is a nurse himself. He's a wealth of information about burnout being experienced by nurses and what he's doing to address that. Whether you are a nurse, a frontline, , worker, or like me, someone who has spent a lot of time in hospitals, or you are, you know, just part of the community and wanting to learn what others do.

Please listen to this episode. I think you'll get a lot out of [00:03:00] it. , Enjoy our chat and I'll be back , after the interview. Thanks Mark for joining us here on the Hurdle to Hope® Show. Welcome. 

Mark Carter: Ah, thanks Teisha. It's a pleasure. Um, it's, it's great. I've, I've watched your episode so far and I can't wait to, uh, have a great chat with you today. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. Looking forward to it. And just, I do this with all guests, just so we've got, , audience members [00:04:00] living overseas out of Australia.

So can you just share with us where I'm chatting to you from, and also give us a little bit of insider information about Mark, you know, what type of things do you enjoy doing outside of work? 

Mark Carter: Sure, sure. So., I live in Ormeau in the state of Queensland. So Ormeau is a town between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, kind of out by the Bay.

. Uh, it used to be like a little rural town now it's hard as hell to get into now post COVID with the population migration. Um, but it's where we call home with this here before we moved overseas and we were really happy to buy here when we came back. So we love it. , Can't see us going anywhere for a while and the kids love living across from the park, so you can't argue with that.

Bit about myself. , Different stages of life, different things I love to do. So in my younger years I loved to surf. I was an avid surfer, 3, 4, 5 days a week down on the Goldie between shifts before uni, whatever I could, as life's changed and, , your interests sway. I'm, I'm an avid camper, uh, cyclist and mountain biker now, so I try and get on the road [00:05:00] and get a couple hundred Ks in a week if I can.

Um, but weather and magpie is now magpie season coming up. So, you know, I don't wanna be swarmed by the, uh, the black and white army, but when I can, I like to get out and do things like that and sign up for crazy events like ultra, ultra long distance rides and things that, uh, push me, give me a goal and let me, uh, go as hard as I can for it.

, And I just think, , if you're gonna set something, just complete it once. And then if you're really keen, go for it again. But I think just completing, it's the key. So that, that's me. And I play guitar in a lot, like lessons fun with my wife and kids. That's the biggest joy is spare time, is spending time with them.

Teisha Rose: Yeah, glad you put that in.

Mark Carter: I can imagine my daughter saying, Hey, why wasn't I in there, dad? I'm sorry, Charlotte. Sorry. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, no, that's great. And , I've actually had a couple of guests now, , from Queensland. So I'm down the bottom of Australia, hence me wearing a jumper. Jumper. And you're in, in short sleeves. Yeah. Very different climates.

Mark Carter: It is, it is. It's nice. Nice warm. 25 or something today. [00:06:00] So, and this is winter. So it's pretty nice. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. Well, yeah. Not like that here. No, but that's all right. That's all right. , And why I'm really excited about this chat and we actually met, , at a Digital Health Festival. Sounds like we did. It wasn't a musical festival.

It was all things digital health and we crossed paths and I think we're both passionate about frontline workers and their wellbeing and yeah. Yeah. So we got chatting and then hence inviting you on here and we'll share with others what we are doing together as well. , But let's take it back a step. And you were once, , frontline worker working as a nurse.

So can you Yeah. Just share what drew you to that profession and yeah. What that was like for you? 

Mark Carter: , Yeah, sure. I, I don't know if I was drawn to nursing. Yep. It's a real kind of weird way of explaining it. But I went out for my birthday, went night with some friends, did something [00:07:00] silly when I was half drunk.

Ended up in the hospital that night, ended up in the hospital on my birthday, , and two weeks later enrolled for nursing. Yeah, that, that was just, it don't know how or why I was current. I was, at that time I was studying a health science degree. I wanted to become a storm chaser or a meteorologist. That was my real key thing.

Um, and then it just flipped. don't know why. And, , the rest of is history went through the degree. , Spent 15 years direct clinical care from registered nurse, clinical nurse, clinical nurse consultant, nurse manager, assistant director through to a hospital, , administrator overseeing the hospital after hours.

I did everything in between. , Taught at the university, marked exams, taught in the labs. It's an amazing profession. There's, you know, I've seen multiple people in different jobs all around the world, and I will say this, frontline healthcare workers, policemen, ambulances, nurses, anybody in healthcare, we are a unique individual.

We [00:08:00] are. They would say God's angels, if you wanna put it like that. But I think we are the world's safety net. Yeah. We tend to take a lot of the world's pain and fatigue and try and find good ways to send it back out into the world. Whether we're caring for someone or we're thinking of caring for someone.

And the experiences I had and the people I work with are still some of the most beautiful, smart, and just awe inspiring people on the planet I've ever met. From my first boss, uh, Michelle McLeod, who still, I still revere her as a manager and she's just an amazing people person through to people I aspire to Professor Jim Williams in Melbourne.

, To people I met in Singapore. You, uh, a nurse will always know a nurse if she's in the room and they'll automatically get each other's humor. And, um, there'll always be a quirky story about, oh, I saw a patient do this. I remember when this happened. And you can automatically build that trust. In an instant, [00:09:00] which I find doesn't happen anywhere else or any profession, , because you have some kind of understanding of what they go through, what they may have experienced, the good, the bad, the indifferent, the sacrifices they make, the things they may have missed out on, like birthdays, families, weddings, all those things that are amazing parts of life that you tend to give up for weekends for extra money to pay the mortgage.

So, , having stepped away from it went into business. I still practice clinically because I keep my registration, but I also still wanna find out what's happening in the profession from aged care, through to acute care, through to clinical care, through to primary care because, , we are at a tipping point as a profession.

. Wholeheartedly. I wouldn't change a thing. My wife's a nurse. She's an amazing, amazing nurse. Has been, will be and always will be. My mum was a nurse. She burned out. My wife burned out as a nurse. Most of my friends are nurses. I think my sister-in-law's just got into [00:10:00] caring. So I think we're all just unique individuals.

Social workers we're all the same. We're cut from the same cloth, just maybe with a different color. 

Teisha Rose: Yes. Yes. And I mean, I haven't done nursing, but I've worked as social worker in emergency housing. So, you know, the, the stress in that field. And you're certainly not doing it for money. 

Mark Carter: No, no. I think, um, most people take 99% of their job home with them, and that's where the damage starts.

You think like, oh, I can just leave it at the door. No you can't. 'cause you'll be getting in your car thinking if something's gone bad, I wonder if I did everything. I wonder if they're okay. And it's the first thing you think about when you're waking up in the morning, coming back to work. How did they go?

Are they okay? Did they survive? I hope they lived the night. I hope we haven't. I hope we did everything you possibly could. And it could be something small, but that never goes away. And where maybe another of the professions, you turn off your computer, you go away, job's done, come back the next hour, you finish your shift, you're done.

, And sometimes the scars can be really, really deep for people. The trauma, some nurses and frontline [00:11:00] workers go through is unrepairable at some points, and, they back up the next day and do it again and again and again and again and again. And so I think. It's a challenge for healthcare overall because it's now stretched to limits.

People are stretched to limits and my greatest fear out of all this is that one day when myself or my wife, or God forbid my kids are ever in a hospital or my mum and dad, is that the healthcare workers, specifically nurses, 'cause the end one they can look at them and ask themself in their mind. I'm pretty sure they're healthy.

They've had a good night's sleep, they're eating healthy, they're getting good effects, physical exercise, and they're mentally okay, or they're emotionally okay because if they're not, the chance of something going wrong goes through the roof. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, 

Mark Carter: and I see that as like a challenge and a mission to make sure that when that day comes, I know on my mind that person standing in front of the bed is looking out [00:12:00] or is being looked after and we're helping 'them look after themselves.

If that makes sense. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's the thing as well, and the nurses and frontline staff, they're doing all they can to provide care and how difficult that is for them if they're not being supported and they're making mistakes and then that falls on them, and that's so not fair when the system's not supporting them.

Mark Carter: No. No, and, and it does happen like everybody's human. That's what I think most people forget. You're human, you're going to make a mistake. You do everything you possibly can. Not to like I will wholeheartedly say I've made mistakes in the past. Absolutely. Everybody does. Yeah. But then you are probably at the limit of fatigue and you are tired and you're not willingly going out there to do that.

It's because a lot of things have lined up that have led to it, not you personally doing that. So I think, um, you know, it's hard when people do make a mistake, they really take it hard. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, 

Mark Carter: because they, they care so [00:13:00] much and it can be the smallest thing. Like, I forgot that blood pressure and they're at home stewing over it.

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Mark Carter: Or that blood sugar's a bit high. I should have told the doctor. They're stewing on it, you think? Oh. So it, it's, um, it can be highly stressful for them and with no positive ways or avenues for 'em to deal with it, or proactive preventative ways to be in front of it so they can deal with it right there.

And then it just compounds. Um, COVID didn't help at all. Yeah, COVID probably bought the s skeleton right outta the closet and um, it's something that I think not just Australia, but the rest of the world is still isn't starting to really struggle to grasp with the impact of what's gonna happen. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, so give us some insight in terms of what's the actual, because I think sometimes we'll be in a hospital or we'll be getting a treatment and we just see the nurse on the shift, you know, and think, oh, they're taking a while to get to me.

I've been buzzing for a while. , So what's the reality? Like, tell us if you are, I know I saw something on LinkedIn, you recently, , [00:14:00] did a full on week was that, , just to really report back on what the reality is of what nurses are facing? Yes. So can you give us, just so people can really see, , the reality?

Mark Carter: Yeah, sure. So I think depending where you are in the sector, you are nursing, you're doing depends on what you're gonna be facing. Um, so last week I did 60 hours in age care. I did two doubles in that period. Uh, so two 14 and a 16 hour shift. Just to experience, not that I wanna do by choice, but to actually go and go, okay, so what am I experiencing as an individual looking at a different lens. But for the average day, for an acute care nurse, in a general medical ward, you're rushing through handover as fast as you can, five to 10 minutes. Because you may have six to eight patients, you have to give all their medications out individually. They may have infusions, they have dressings, they have to be washed, so you have all the personal cares for them.

And by 8 30, 9 o'clock, the doctor's rounds are coming in. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, 

Mark Carter: that's if during that period one of the patients hasn't deteriorated, they may have had a fall, they may have had a cardiac risk, [00:15:00] which happens all the time. Someone may have called in sick. So instead of having the six residents, you may have now have 10.

Yeah. So it changes, and by eight to nine o'clock you're hoping you'll be able to get to your first break. But that may be pushed out to nine 30. So you're then swapping for first break for second break so you can get a break, but the doctor's rocked up. So there goes your second break. So you may not have got a second break, or if it is, it's five minutes.

And in that five minutes you may be trying to stuff something down your throat so you forget about the toilet. Forget about having something to drink. You just go, I just need some sugar. But then you are, you've made 500 decisions by nine o'clock. And people think, oh, they're big decisions. No, they're micro.

Micro decisions. Like, oh, they're sitting over there. I wonder what they're doing. Oh, that person's moving too much. I hope they don't fall while you're dishing out medications thinking. I've got a blood transfusion going off in half an hour. This person's coming back from theater. I have to get 'em ready for theater.

There's so many things happening for six people in a hospital. You are multitasking on a monumental level. In an aged care sector, which I did last [00:16:00] week, two of those doubles, I had 70 residents. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. Yeah, 

Mark Carter: so it's 70 rounds of pills of a morning and 70 rounds of pills at lunch, and probably about 50 depending on how them, but you know, there's it, the pill round took two and a half hours insulins and schedule eight drugs, you know, and I think, like, I can handle that.

But, uh, a new nurse straight outta uni, they can't, and they, they stress and they, they falter. Um, agency nurses who may just be walking for the first time, never have met any of them. It's, it's your stress levels go through the roof. So the shift as a nurse, I think regardless of the sector you're in, you're making a ton of decisions autonomously all the time, and you're hoping that you're making the right ones for the best outcome for the patients or the residents or the people you're providing care to, but also for the organization you may be working in, and the multitude of either management or senior bosses that will come and pester you during that first two hours [00:17:00] just to get the day to work well.

And then the day's gone and you're handing over and you're out the door and you just go, whoa, where did that go? And you're like, well, what am I gonna do for dinner? I gotta pick the kids up from school. I have to go do this. After that, then there's a washing and you're like, then your second day starts after you've given your first half of your day to someone else's families.

Teisha Rose: Yeah, it, it's mind blowing really. And I guess this leads beautifully into the reality is that it's too much. The reality is, and looking at your website, , the stats and all that, nurses aren't coping. And that's, that's fair enough. Like if they're trying to cope with that level, that intensity of work every day, I'm not surprised that, you know, the stress levels the burnout and all so stats wise.

Do you have some stats for us, Mark as to I do. I saw some on your website, that's why I am alluding to it. Yeah, yeah, no, 

Mark Carter: that's all right. Um. So [00:18:00] depending who you, who you're looking for your stats from. You know, the overall, like 74.5% of nurses in primary care are stressed. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, 

Mark Carter: that's huge. Three out of three out of four huge are stressed or higher levels of stress.

You got 69% of nurses in Australia are absolutely exhausted. That's seven out of 10. Like I I, you can see it. You can see it every single time you sit down, they hand over a room, they all sit down and they all do that. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, because 

Mark Carter: they're all completely gassed. The burnout rate varies depending on the study that's done, but overall, it's around about 72% of nurses in primary care experience burnout.

Now, there's no study specifically on aged care. , I know they're looking at some, , but that's so transient and so hard to pin down 'cause of the nature of the industry. , But the one that's a real shocker to me is since 2020 prior to COVID, 75,000 nurses have left the Australian profession since 2020.

Teisha Rose: Wow, that's huge. 

Mark Carter: We have 400 just under 400,000 nurses in the country, period. [00:19:00] 

Teisha Rose: That's 

Mark Carter: scary isn, isn't 

Teisha Rose: it? And 

Mark Carter: if that's what's, you know, so we're looking at a deficit of around about 50,000 by 2030. We're short. We'll be short by 50,000 nurses by around about 2030. That's close to 42,000 shifts a day.

Across the country that we're not gonna have nurses for the care minutes are in the millions every day. And you think, I hope, I hope my mum and dad or someone, someone I know I love is getting those care minutes what's left there. So there's a real challenge around getting staff, keeping staff, retaining staff, looking after staff.

And at the moment, everybody around the world is in that same problem, same challenge. So Australia is just maybe on differing degrees. The UK is in a real pickle at the moment. I know the US is going through a massive transformation. They're looking at close to maybe 800,000 nurses being short in the US by 2030.

That's monumental, but the population size kind of explains why. [00:20:00] So it, it's a real challenge and most places I go to and do a shift in, there's always someone off sick. There's always a gap, at least minimum of one, if not two. The double I did last week, there were three staff off sick. I'm not sure. Just they didn't wanna come to work.

Teisha Rose: . And if you are feeling, , going through winter in Victoria and if you're feeling not a hundred percent, you can understand why you don't have the energy for that intense work. 

Mark Carter: It is. Yeah. And rostering and the, you know, how you are rostered and what shift patterns you're doing, how many night shifts you're doing, like they all accumulate and take an impact.

Especially on highering stress loads. Highering workloads. It is, their energy becomes a, you know, a breaking point. Yeah. For everyone. We're all human. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, absolutely. Couple of things with burnout, we talk about burnout a lot. So from your perspective, what are we talking about? Like, what is burnout? 

Mark Carter: I think from [00:21:00] my perspective, burnout isn't one single aspect.

, It's a accumulation of you have a lack of physical drive and energy to be involved, or you know, you don't, you don't. You lack the physical motivation to deliver, or your body is physically tired, you are lacking the physical energy. There's a component of sleep involved in this. You're not sleeping properly.

You have such irregular sleep patterns, or you have runs of night duties. You're not getting proper adequate sleep, or you're not doing right sleep hygiene. You are emotionally or mentally not at your peak and nutrition wise, which is the fuel for the whole body, is you may not be nutritionally supplying your body with everything that requires.

So it's not one aspect. It's a holistic draining of everything you have in your body, your body, your being, your energy, your character. It's just empty. And burnout doesn't happen today. It doesn't happen from one week. It happens [00:22:00] from weeks and weeks and months and years of not having the ability to take the measures and the interventions to keep yourself the right side of sane in a way.

And we all think we can just soldier on through it. No, we can't. You can't work doubles upon, doubles upon doubles upon doubles 'cause you will either hurt someone or be hurt on your drive. And the trade off for money compared to hours is one nurses everywhere, flaunt very, very well. I think I can do that double for that extra money, but what's the, what's the turnaround?

So a burnout to me is when you actually have nothing left to give emotionally, physically, nutritionally, or even part of your sleep. Nothing is working for you, and so the job no longer becomes valuable. You're no longer passionate for it, you actually become detached emotionally from what you're trying to help people.

And that's dangerous for you as an [00:23:00] individual from your own personal being, but also from the patient side. 'cause we're carrying individuals for these people. It's not just a task, it's not a rope task you can repeat like a factory line. Every person has their own situation, needs and requirements. So, um, it's a mixture of everything that keeps us who we are and when we've got nothing left that's burnout.

Teisha Rose: Yeah. And it's so sad because as you were saying at the beginning, there's this connection between nurses and, , you're passionate. You, you do this because you wanna make a difference. You want to provide support and care, but then the burnout means that detachment and that must be soul destroying for some nurses.

Very, 

Mark Carter: you do. You, you see, especially in some areas, like the ones that have high, extremely high pressure, like ED and intensive cares and the critical care where, , they're faced with the harshness of the harsh. It's a repetitive, constant feed of the things that do take impact to people again and again, and [00:24:00] again, and again and again.

Seeing that child again, seeing that car crash victim again, seeing 'em and just going, I just emotionally, I'm just detached from caring. 

Teisha Rose: Hmm. 

Mark Carter: And it is a no fault whatsoever of the nurse whatsoever. And this is something we don't do that well. We think it's our fault that we're burning out. We're actually not looking at going, it's the system, it's the industry.

Take yourself outta that situation. What is it that's in there that's causing the burnout? Which me going in there becomes the result. Or is it me not looking after myself or not helping myself to understand where I can improve or what measures I can put in place to keep myself healthy? Yeah. 

Teisha Rose: And do you think organizations or hospitals, , are not taking this seriously or is there a point where it's not recognizing, like it's just really, and we'll talk about what you are doing business wise, because obviously there's a big gap there.

Um, [00:25:00] so yeah. When you were in it, were you thinking, gosh, you know, hospitals, employers could be doing so much more, or, 

Mark Carter: . I think now hospitals, employers have realized how significant it is. Um, and I will say they do try. Yeah. But I think the options out there are so slim, if not to none, that all they can offer is what's available.

And I think that's the gap. Plus the other challenge is things that are offered actually detach or detract someone away from their work. It doesn't meet them at the coalface. It doesn't meet them at their job. It's actually making them leave what's important to them and go source elsewhere, or it's reactive.

It's at that end breaking point, which by that stage, the damage is done. And it wasn't. The damage wasn't that day. The damage was the month prior or the two months before. The three [00:26:00] months before when they weren't sleeping properly. Today was just that camel straw that broke the camel's back. So I think organizations are really trying, but the offerings are so limited and maybe not taken up the way they should be 'cause they're not built for purpose and that's where the gap is. Um. I know many, many hospital execs around the world, and they all said the same thing. I wish we had something better. I wish I had something that was tailored to an individual or tailored to an individual group, the ones that's costing the most money, the ones where we are missing the biggest gaps, the ones that we can't keep.

So that was, that's a real resignation. 'cause at no point you try and blame management. 

Teisha Rose: No, 

Mark Carter: because they're, they're trying just as hard to figure out why, and they themselves are burning out trying to solve the same problem. So it's not, uh. Organization. I think it's a systems issue that most places face.

, And you just gotta take the people outta it and go, how can we improve the systems? Not so much. How do we improve the people? 'cause they're all trying so hard with the best intentions. 

Teisha Rose: I love that. I think that's really [00:27:00] important. I'm glad I asked that question because, because you're right. I think, , managers are there and some have worked their way up anyway, and , they're passionate about healthcare as well.

, So it is, everyone's got the right intention, but you're right sometimes. the system and the funding and all of that. And priorities exactly. Of the government, um, that is making it difficult for everyone. So can you share with us all about your business, MACH Health, because I think it's so important what you're doing and it's a really unique take.

And I think what's exciting about this is for managers, hospitals who are thinking, I don't know what to do. That's your solution. You know, there's plenty that they can do. So yeah, talk us through that Mark. 

Mark Carter: Yeah. So, um, probably a bit of preface to MACH Health is, , after leaving direct clinical care, I spent a few years in different businesses where we looked at diseases such as Alzheimer's and the aging population.

We [00:28:00] built systematic structured clinical pathways for use on scale of how we could break down the problem into a system. Build interventions around the system and then deliver them. We did this in China with people with Alzheimer's around about 200,000 people, um, with amazing results. In 90 days, we could predict the, the predictability of non-pharmacological interventions for people with Alzheimer's living in their home, and we were able to slow that down.

In the UK we built an over fifties platform with a similar kind of system called the, structured wellness intervention pathway, which is published about how we keep people healthy in the home and we sound, people come off dialysis. Reverse type two diabetes nurses are, we are systematic people.

We love a plan, we execute it. We have our routines. As humans, we are exactly the same chaos, and the random things provide the spice of life, but in everyday life. Like to get up a certain time, [00:29:00] like to have my coffee and when those things don't go well, the day doesn't go well. So the way I looked at this was a nurse as an individual suffers from four major things.

They suffer from emotional health. They suffer massively from sleep, health, sleep syndrome, sleep hygiene devices at night. They suffer massively from physical health issues, injuries, longevity, burnout, fatigue, and they don't eat well. We just don't eat well and it's, Christmas is the greatest time and the worst time to be a nurse in the hospital

'cause you must get every box of Favourites, Woolies ever had. 

Teisha Rose: And that's what you live on. True. 

Mark Carter: Yeah. So, um, in 2023, I went away and looked at all the research and I built a pathway called the Workplace Health Intervention Pathway for Nurses, which took all those domains and we break down all the problems and had that peer reviewed by 20 nurses around the world.

And we're writing it for publication now, and that is the engine behind MACH Health. So MACH Health is a web app. And also a mobile app in the Google and Apple Play stores, [00:30:00] and it attacks burnout preventatively. So we have over 400 pieces of content, strategically and professionally made around those four areas bite size 30 seconds, up to a 10 minute meditation class or video.

We are running, we are running live classes in front of nurses in their workplaces because I want someone coming to their job, not going, oh, it's time for handover to put their head up and go. Hey, there's 15 minutes for all of us before we start work, and it's by a physio or a meditation expert or a positive psychologist going, you are worth the effort.

The patients need you to be on top form so you can deliver the best care 'cause you're brilliant at your job. Here's 10 minutes for you. And during the day, we send them notifications on, have you gone to the toilet? Have you had a drink of water? Are you on your break? Do you need one minute of stress relief?

Here's a meditation. What time are you going home? Okay, great. What are you eating tonight for dinner? Tell us how you start your day. Check in with yourself. Show yourself how [00:31:00] you are doing. At the end of the night, how you, how did you end your day go? We offer monthly assessments as well. We have a news feed in there where they can collaborate as a community, and the goal here is to put the power in the nurse's hand by a nurse who's walked 95% of the different areas of nursing and gone, we really need help.

Now. People say, oh, it's another App. It's, it's a mechanism for us to go in front of people and say, Hey, you really, really matter. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, 

Mark Carter: and here's some simple ways that we can maybe just start building in those daily habits that get you one step closer to centre. Maybe get you that one night better sleep or that one healthier meal choice.

Or maybe we can get you stretching your neck so you're not, neck isn't sore every time you bend down. Giving out medications 'cause all starts with one. You don't have to change everything on day one. But by building the habits in, I hope we can change the narrative around reactive wellbeing and health for nurses, but actually we're in front of it.[00:32:00] 

And over time we'd like to say we can look at this group of nurses and how they're doing and then apply that to a different sector, say aged care, where they're really gonna need it. So, , currently at the moment we're in discussions with a few hospitals around Australia. We're having a pilot with the NHS later in the year for a full hospital in the university attached.

. As you can see from LinkedIn, we're getting tons of exposure around the world. As I'm wanting to drive home the message, like, this is all a systems issue. It's not a people issue, and let's rema, let's re-engineer it to say, let's put everybody on the front foot. Let's give them something that's tailored a hundred percent to them.

So everything in in, in MACH Health is tailored to the nurse. There's no random stuff. It's not always gonna do something randomly for a tradie. It's like, no, no, no, no. They don't understand the nurse. Everything changes depending on the shifts you do. So if you're doing morning shift, the system changes and talks you in a different way.

If you're on a night shift, we talk to you completely differently. We have stuff going out to you at 2:00 AM or 3:00 AM in the morning to keep you awake, [00:33:00] asking you to put down that soft drink. You can pick up a chamomile tea. We're ask, we're trying to make small changes, and then when you get home, Hey, what are you doing for bed?

What time are you gonna bed? Can we, can we just make those little steps forward? So we, at the moment, we've just had like resounding interest in what we're trying to do. Um, as you, as we met at the Digital Health Festival, we found that we were the odd balls out greatly. I work with a wonderful team in Sydney called Cognos who've helped me take my concept into real idea, um, past MVP to pilot stage.

So it's exciting. , But it's available for free on Google and Apple Play now. So every nurse is listening to reason. Jump on, give yourself the chance. I do it every day. My wife does it, my mates do it. Other nurses I know do it and they're like, I've gotta check in with myself today. 'cause you know, know what Teisha, when I was a nurse, none of this was around.

No one cared. We just like grind through it and we'll do it. We'll go to the pub after. Yeah, that was a solution, but [00:34:00] really at the end of the day, no one really said to each other, how you doing? Just generally, how are you doing? One, we may not have thought it was okay to ask or two, we were probably afraid of the answer we might got in return 'cause it was just a mirror image of how we were doing at the same time. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Mark Carter: And it's giving people that place to go, okay, this is all about us and me and I feel safe here. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. And look, that is so important and I think, you know, it's. Amazing that it's been built by nurses. So there's already, there's that connection that yes, you get it.

So it's not just this, yeah, do this meditation, then you'll be fine. You know, there's that, and I, I didn't realize,, to even be able to adjust it depending on what shift, because of course that's very different a nurse getting up at five o'clock and being there at the beginning compared to one someone get see that starting at 10:00 PM 

Mark Carter: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a whole different mental [00:35:00] lead into a shift. It's a whole different challenge you face depending on the shifts. And, , what happens after the shift is just as important what happens during or before it. And sometimes that's just as more damaging.

Teisha Rose: Yeah, no, this is amazing. Mark. So I think, a couple of things in terms of if people want to, we'll have everything in the show notes. Um, and I'll share on socials and all as well. But the actual app is called Yep.

MACH Health. And that's spelled MACH? Yep. MACH Health. Um, and yeah, and I've already downloaded, not that I'm a nurse, but I had to lie a little bit when I That's okay. Put stuff down. But, um, just to see and check it out, and it's amazing. So yeah, regardless of what type of phone you've got, um, there's doesn't matter apps there, um, which is really good.

And in terms of if someone's listening, who's. In an organisation working at a hospital, can they contact you as well

Mark Carter: just, uh, email me, um, email's mark@machealth.com au. Drop me a line. , Pick up a phone, give me a call. I don't [00:36:00] mind. , Even if you just wanna chat about the challenges you're facing or would you like a free pilot or a trial?

I'm happy because it. We're gonna be in a real problem, and I'd rather people have a possible solution they can take on it, they can take at their work and they can go, Hey, someone's reminding I need to go to the toilet. I haven't, it's like six hours and my kidneys are killing me. That, that's, every two thirds of female nurses say that.

And it's like, why should you have to be reminded to go to the bathroom? It, it's, it's a simple thing, but no one really thought to, to ask 'em that question and, um. We can set something up really quickly, no cost, and we can, , , see what impact we can have for people. , It's just about helping now and getting the name and getting in the hands of people and then listening to 'em and saying, we'd like to see a, we'd like to see this, we'd like to see that.

Um, 'cause we'd like to build quickly and adapt and change and make sure that we can make it as personal for them as possible. 

Teisha Rose: No, that's great. And it's no different, to living with a health condition. For me, living with MS and now [00:37:00] cancer, it's like you have to be proactive about your wellbeing and nurses are human, like all of us, and they have to be proactive about their wellbeing. And then organisations, the stats you're giving for 2030, that's dire. So organisations need to be proactive about organisational health. , So I think what you're doing is really important. And as, , we'll quickly mention, I'm very excited because part of the Hurdle2Hope®, .

Worker Wellbeing workshops are gonna be part of the app as well, which I'm really excited about. , Because what I've done in this space is in relation to, I've lived, , as a patient and I've witnessed, , from a. A bed, , as to what nurses go through. So you're privy to that when, especially when you're in hospital for months and months.

And, , , these workshops are very much about not just patient interactions, but how to use the Hurdle2Hope® Roadmap in relation to workplace challenges. And I think so many times [00:38:00] people with lived experience have great insight as to how proactively to manage burnout or prevent burnout. So yeah, I'm very excited that we're on the same page and to be part of the MACH Health app as well.

Mark Carter: Yeah, no, we're, we're excited to have you on board, Teisha. And, , I, I think one of the things we're trying to do within the app is create an environment where we have experts like yourself. We have. People with lived experience, health professionals with lived experience, who provide a range of different services, personalized things that nurses may not understood, be even available and say, Hey guys, I can't do everything, but I work with an a group of amazing people who do the rest.

And , maybe you need to seek help from people. And that that's the point, is to bring the world to the nurse, not the nurse, have to go and search the world. If we can do that person by person, then week by week, I think we've got [00:39:00] a real shot of, you know, making a real difference, not just in Australia, but around the rest of the world.

Teisha Rose: Yeah, no, really exciting. I'm so glad our paths crossed in that big convention centre. But you're right, we were both, there weren't very many people with lived experience and you know, uh, lots of people with amazing ability with all this tech stuff. Um, but you wanna make sure AI doesn't replace real voices and real experiences.

Exactly. Um, so I love what you're doing, so please, as I mentioned, we'll put all the details in the show notes, , also go to machhealth.com.au. Yep. Or yep. Or go to any app store and go to the MACH Health app. And yeah, do get on board because this will help if you're working frontline. , And if you are an organization who is like, what can we do?

You can turn to Mark and have a chat to him as to what you can do to really protect your greatest assets in terms of who's providing [00:40:00] service for us all. 

Mark Carter: Yeah, no, thank you. It's, it's been great to be here. Um, okay. I leave this one thought is that, 

There's nothing wrong with trying, that's where people stumble.

We're all a bit afraid to say, oh, you know, that's not me. Then when we do something that kind of penny drops and we go, actually, you know, that was, that was a bit of me. I really needed that. I never thought I did, but actually I really needed that. Most people are really afraid to try because that opens up maybe a wound or a scar that they didn't want open up.

And my goal, we have this in the hand of every single nurse around the world in five years. Yeah. And it's a big challenge. I think the world is ready and I think nurses are one of the most amazing peoples on the planet, and we have a voice that when it's, when it's together, is extremely powerful. I hope that this can be the start of that voice now, getting the power it deserves to say, Hey, we need to [00:41:00] be looked after.

We're gonna start with this. MACH Health is just the start. It's not the end. And as time goes on, we'll bring more amazing things to the nurses and really help them on everything from financial help. It'll be family planning. You know, the world's the oyster in this one because it's not just the work they spend their time at.

They come to work to live, not live to work, but at the moment they're living to work. Yeah. So our goal is to change that narrative and help them one at a time. So don't be afraid to jump on and try reach out to me on LinkedIn or Facebook. You can follow us as well. Um. And join, join the Revolution 'cause we think it's, it's going to be that and we hope we start that here in Australia.

Teisha Rose: Excellent. Thanks so much, mark. I really appreciate your time. No, thank you 

Mark Carter: Teisha. Cheers. 

Teisha Rose: Okay, so I really hope you enjoyed that chat with Mark. I learned a lot and yeah, it's scary. The stats he shared are really scary because the reality is we need healthcare support. [00:42:00] Nurses are leaving and we need to do all we can to help support the nursing profession. Again, that's the same in aged care is the same in NDIS or disability sectors.

You know that frontline staff are really struggling and we need to provide support for them.

Part of what I'm doing here at Hurdle2Hope®, if you are. Frontline, please visit Hurdle2Hope® remember, Hurdle2Hope® with a number two.com/pd. There are different workshops that I'm running. You can, you know, if you're a nurse, go through the MACH Health app like we mentioned when I was chatting to Mark, you can also go to my website 

Have a look for different sectors. You know, if you're an organization, I would love, especially after my experience this last week, to run some more of these workshops, schedule a call and we can work out how to best support your staff. Other than that, I am gonna [00:43:00] have a really chilled out week doing a bit of work, but really enjoying myself here at Daisy Hill, , as I said, you know, I absolutely love it here and I really am excited to keep bringing you different intros and, reels and all from our property here. Sitting on the different rocks that Andrew will be putting throughout the property.

Um, and yeah, I hope you also have a great week. Please listen to the previous couple of episodes if you haven't already. Um, and let's spread these Hurdle2Hope® message, whether you're frontline staff, but also if you are living through any unexpected hurdle, the insights shared will help you in moving forward, and I look forward to chatting to you again next week.

Have a good week.

 [00:44:00]