Faces from our nurse swap
As we reach the one year anniversary of Whittington Health as an integrated care organisation, it feels fitting that we are celebrating the launch of our ‘role swap’ initiative. This exercise involves a member of staff in the community shadowing a colleague based at the hospital for a day, and vice versa. The benefits of doing this exercise span significantly throughout the community, hospital and our patients and public. The staff members involved, along with those who follow the story will posses a clearer vision of their colleague’s working environment and how we can work to benefit each other and our service users.The first of our role swaps took place on Tuesday 3 April 2012 as Sarah Hayes, district nurse manager came to the Whittington Hospital to shadow matron Julie Teahan. The journey started with a bed management meeting and I asked Sarah what she hopes to get out of the day. She explains “I want to gain an insight into the patient pathway from within the hospital looking out, and apply that to my experiences on a daily basis”.
With the bed management meeting completed, we turn our attentions to the daily ward rounds. The first ward we visited was Mercers, and immediately the intended two-way ebb and flow of conversation raises to the surface. Julie introduces Sarah to the duty staff and they discuss the ward within the context of the community. Julie noted “in recent months high quality referrals to district nurses from Mercers ward have increased.”
As we are walking through Mercers ward, the conversation turns to ‘discharge planning’ and the theme of improving the patient pathway between the nurses goes from strength to strength. One comment from Julie is particularly resounding as she turns and says “today’s role swap will facilitate a smoother journey for the patient from the hospital back into the community”. This is due to a greater understanding of the way in which staff operate in the hospital.
Julie and Sarah exit Nightingale ward and make there way to Montuschi ward, an energy saving ‘green ward’. On bright days, the lights on the ward are switched off or dimmed. This makes use of the available natural light as well as creating a calm and relaxing environment for the patients. Montuschi is also a pioneering ward for Whittington Health for e-prescribing, a method of improving the safety and efficiency of healthcare by aiding the choice, prescribing, administration and supply of medicines.The conversation reverts back to integration, this time, the focus is not solely on Whittington Health staff working together, but that the structure of the hospital and community share more common ground. “It is key that the community and acute services mirror each other to ensure cohesive working”.
Our final visit of the day takes us down to the emergency department where we meet Rebecca Owen, ambulatory care co-ordinator, who, as we are about to discover works closely with both hospital and community services. Rebecca explains that “community matrons now work on the ambulatory care clinic located in the hospital’s emergency department”.
This is a fundamental way in which we are working to ensure that the patient is treated in the correct location, as the ambulatory care nurses will assess whether a patient can be treated in their own homes. If the patient can be treated at home, the number of emergency department admissions is reduced, and the patient can receive care in a familiar environment surrounded by family and carers; this is known as a ‘virtual ward.’ For the month of March, 43 patients were treated on the new ambulatory care pathway instead of being admitted, demonstrating the success of the service.
The pilot role swap ends with both nurses attending a discharge planning meeting, with Sarah’s presence providing an opportunity to view their work from a different perspective. The day was certainly a success and we look forward letting you know how Julie gets on when shadowing Sarah in the community.
If you want to know more about the exercise, please check out our twitter page to view our live updates and photos from 3 April 2012 ‘@WhitHealth’.
Last updated09 May 2012