Carole Beasley
July 2021
Carole
Beasley
,
RN
EAU 4
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
Torquay
United Kingdom
Carole's many quality improvement outcomes illustrate her absolute drive and passion to do the right thing not only for patients and families but also for her colleagues.
Carole became an End of Life Trainee, one of only 6 who committed to a year-long project run by Rowcroft Hospice and funded by Macmillan to test a new programme of learning enabling nurses to make direct workplace change to benefit patients and their loved ones at end of life. The project started pre-pandemic (Sept 19) when Carole worked on the Emergency admissions unit but then she was redeployed to the Covid admission ward during the project time and is continuing to make improvements in her new post. Her many quality improvement outcomes (they were only expected to make one!) are listed below and illustrate her absolute drive and passion to do the right thing not only for patients and families but also for her colleagues. She became a fantastic example of a change agent able to make local ward-based impact that matters.
1. Fundraised £163;600 to develop "end of life sensory comfort boxes" ready to use in a busy emergency admissions ward: offering soft blankets for the dying (family can take home) teaching hand massage to staff and relative setting up music aromatherapy diffusers and knitted hearts to connect with loved ones. She arranged with a local optician to offer a free spectacle mending service.
2. Improving communications: learning how recognise the dying person and then to give bad news over the phone and mentoring her junior staff to do the same. Arranging additional methods to communicate with early Covid positive admissions to send/say final messages or gain quick access to visit with PPE/arranging recliner chair for relative with dementia to stay. Utilising findings from the Manchester bomb nurses to share unique insights gained from critically unwell patients and share these with loved ones at home unable to visit to help in their turmoil or bereavement.
3. Enhancing skills and knowledge of colleagues e.g. in improved end-of-life crisis prescribing (via an audit of notes) and subsequent training supporting doctors and nurses in the care of the rapidly declining person who may require withdrawal of treatments (breathing assistance optiflow). This was hard and new to the team and helped by Carole engaging additional support from specialist palliative care learning disability and ITU teams to enable better care and sometimes deaths. Working with catering and housekeeping teams to better identify patients at EOL (instigated a butterfly scheme) and establish a more personalised approach to food and drink provision (favourites offered).
4. Enhancing the well-being of colleagues. Helping them with their own fears about Covid and new practicalities. Arranging with Trust Chief nurse to improve pay (for additional donning and doffing of PPE at either end of shift) and working conditions, parking spaces, and snack vending machine increasing possible break time and inviting chief nurse to work on shift.
1. Fundraised £163;600 to develop "end of life sensory comfort boxes" ready to use in a busy emergency admissions ward: offering soft blankets for the dying (family can take home) teaching hand massage to staff and relative setting up music aromatherapy diffusers and knitted hearts to connect with loved ones. She arranged with a local optician to offer a free spectacle mending service.
2. Improving communications: learning how recognise the dying person and then to give bad news over the phone and mentoring her junior staff to do the same. Arranging additional methods to communicate with early Covid positive admissions to send/say final messages or gain quick access to visit with PPE/arranging recliner chair for relative with dementia to stay. Utilising findings from the Manchester bomb nurses to share unique insights gained from critically unwell patients and share these with loved ones at home unable to visit to help in their turmoil or bereavement.
3. Enhancing skills and knowledge of colleagues e.g. in improved end-of-life crisis prescribing (via an audit of notes) and subsequent training supporting doctors and nurses in the care of the rapidly declining person who may require withdrawal of treatments (breathing assistance optiflow). This was hard and new to the team and helped by Carole engaging additional support from specialist palliative care learning disability and ITU teams to enable better care and sometimes deaths. Working with catering and housekeeping teams to better identify patients at EOL (instigated a butterfly scheme) and establish a more personalised approach to food and drink provision (favourites offered).
4. Enhancing the well-being of colleagues. Helping them with their own fears about Covid and new practicalities. Arranging with Trust Chief nurse to improve pay (for additional donning and doffing of PPE at either end of shift) and working conditions, parking spaces, and snack vending machine increasing possible break time and inviting chief nurse to work on shift.