Barry Quinn
What kind of leader do we want in nursing?
Leadership can be an art; finding the balance of the ability to lead and devlivering compassionate nursing care is one nurse leaders strive for.
Managing pain in advanced cancer settings: an expert guidance and conversation tool
Help people with cancer, and those caring for them, to talk about the hidden aspects of pain
How does nursing attract and retain strong leaders?
Ward managers should be excluded from staff numbers so they are free to take on supervisory roles.
Now more than ever, nurses need resilience
Horrendous events in London and Manchester have put healthcare staff under enormous pressure.
Demonstrating how we value our workforce
There may be a role for specialist nurses in meeting the needs of new recruits.
Using the Gold Standards Framework to deliver good end of life care
The aims of excellent end of life care (EOLC) and nursing are at the heart of healthcare. Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a multi-site London teaching care provider, recognises and values the importance of good EOLC, and the quality of EOLC is used as one of the key metrics in assessing the quality of patient and family care across the trust. The principles of EOLC, including those enshrined in the Gold Standards Framework (GSF), are closely aligned with the trust’s core values. Each member of staff is encouraged and supported, through the GSF process, to recognise and respond as befits their role in implementing the principles of EOLC, agreed by staff, and by patients and their relatives. This article describes the experience of, and collaboration between, trust staff and members of the GSF team, who have worked together for the past 18 months, and how this work has placed EOLC at the heart of patient care and staff recruitment. This collaboration has helped to enrich the culture of compassion and care that the trust aims to deliver, and to focus on providing person-centred care.
First steps into the world of nursing
There are many career paths open to new nurses but all of them are based on the core values of patient-centred care, says assistant director of nursing Barry Quinn.
Developing, implementing and evaluating an end of life care intervention
Aim To develop, implement and evaluate a collaborative intervention in care homes seeking to increase the confidence and competence of staff in end of life care and enable more people to receive end of life care in their usual place of residence. Method A two-phase exploratory mixed methods design was used, evaluating the effect of an end of life care toolkit and associated training in care homes, facilitated by a specialist palliative care team. Six care homes in England were recruited to the intervention; 24 staff participated in discussion groups; 54 staff attended at least one training session; and pre- and post-intervention questionnaires were completed by 78 and 103 staff respectively. Results Staff confidence in receiving emotional and clinical support and managing end of life care symptoms increased post-intervention, but confidence in discussing death and dying with residents and relatives decreased. Audit data indicate greater reduction in the number of residents from participating care homes dying in hospital than those from comparison homes. Conclusion Collaborative end of life care interventions support care home staff to manage end of life and may enable residents to have choice about their place of death.
It’s all about care
Despite the huge leap forwards in healthcare, the basic fact remains – the sick need us to...