Eamonn H Turbitt
October 2021
Eamonn H
Turbitt
,
BSN, RN, Masters Social Research Methodology, Psychotherapist
Clarence and Eastern District Adult Community Mental Health Services
Tasmanian Health Service
Hobart
,
Tasmania
Australia
I was impressed at how much skilled management had gone into decreasing the distress of this patient by Eamonn.
I would like to recognize Eamonn Turbitt, RN and Case Manager at Eastern Community Mental Health team, for his exceptional care and compassion towards all of the patients/clients under his care.
The particular instance that stands out for me relates to his care of a client who needed hospital admission for worsening psychosis. Eamonn accompanied her to the RHH DEM, stayed with her whilst waiting for medical and psychiatry review, and waited and accompanied the patient to the ward for her admission. The DEM was noisy and busy that evening, and the worst place to be for someone struggling with distressing auditory hallucinations and delusional beliefs. This admission was managed without needing to place this person under the Mental Health Act, and without needing significant use of psychotropic drugs, all because of the skillful, thoughtful, and compassionate care of Eamonn. His rostered workday finished at 5 pm, but he was still in the DEM until 8 pm when we accompanied the patient to the ward. His assistance was all the more valuable because there was no PEN rostered on in DEM that afternoon.
As the after-hours psychiatry registrar on that evening for this admission, I was impressed at how much skilled management had gone into decreasing the distress of this patient by Eamonn, and how unrecognised this sort of work is. For the patient, it directly translated into less need for antipsychotic medication, an ability to use the least restrictive options to manage her deterioration, and exemplified a real commitment to continuity of care that reduced the distress of the situation to the patient.
The particular instance that stands out for me relates to his care of a client who needed hospital admission for worsening psychosis. Eamonn accompanied her to the RHH DEM, stayed with her whilst waiting for medical and psychiatry review, and waited and accompanied the patient to the ward for her admission. The DEM was noisy and busy that evening, and the worst place to be for someone struggling with distressing auditory hallucinations and delusional beliefs. This admission was managed without needing to place this person under the Mental Health Act, and without needing significant use of psychotropic drugs, all because of the skillful, thoughtful, and compassionate care of Eamonn. His rostered workday finished at 5 pm, but he was still in the DEM until 8 pm when we accompanied the patient to the ward. His assistance was all the more valuable because there was no PEN rostered on in DEM that afternoon.
As the after-hours psychiatry registrar on that evening for this admission, I was impressed at how much skilled management had gone into decreasing the distress of this patient by Eamonn, and how unrecognised this sort of work is. For the patient, it directly translated into less need for antipsychotic medication, an ability to use the least restrictive options to manage her deterioration, and exemplified a real commitment to continuity of care that reduced the distress of the situation to the patient.