My Working Day:Discussing residents' concerns is very important to Bríd McGoldrick, director of nursing and related services at St Joseph's Care Centre, Longford
My day-to-day responsibilities include the co-ordination of patient care for 450 patients, who are either in-patients, or who receive respite or day care. Our facility also provides medical care for 10,000 clinic outpatients a year, along with 11,000 patients seen in our General Practice Minor Injury Unit.
Other major responsibilities of my job are the supervision of transportation, mortuary service and a staff of 220 employees. I personally handle issues such as recruitment interviewing, processing of applications and induction of staff.
Many services are offered at St Joseph's and palliative care is an extremely important one. We increased the number of palliative care beds due to a collaborative partnership, which has developed over the past few years. We have been working hard with patients and families, to change attitudes and emotional issues related to death and dying.
The brightly-painted, decorated rooms with adequate space for family members to stay overnight are far more desirable than the traditional crowded six- or eight-bed wards.
We have also undertaken a number of initiatives to bridge the gap in the services between cancer and non-cancer patients. One recent initiative was to provide a training programme for nurses, to reinsert feeding tubes. This eliminates the need for patients to go to the hospital for reinsertion, which causes unnecessary discomfort and stress, as well as additional cost.
Another project to improve bladder and bowel control has been a huge success. It has reduced costs, improved patients' sense of dignity and resulted in reduced patient falls - a definite "win, win" situation.
Our latest project is to implement the Essence of Care Benchmark for Safety, from the British National Health Service Modernisation Agency.
The interaction with a variety of healthcare workers on a daily basis provides a professional, collegial environment which is very stimulating and rewarding.
My work with local educators, in implementing our intergenerational project, has been extremely successful over the past five years. It has been so gratifying to observe the amazing interaction between the elderly and young students. As a result of the programme, a number of students have gone on to obtain nursing degrees. St Joseph's is extremely proud of our contribution in developing professional nurses who are sorely needed for the ageing population.
We are constantly interacting with patients and families to discuss a variety of concerns related to discharge plans, nutrition or resuscitation status. In all cases, the resident is at the centre of our discussions.
Dementia sufferers and their families have complex needs, and hopefully there will be a national debate to determine solutions for this group of patients and their families. The elderly deserve respect, quality care, dignity and love. My overall goal is to highlight their needs, be their voice and ensure that they receive the highest standard of care. Each day, my motto to the staff is, "Add life to years when you cannot add years to life".
In conversation with Michelle McDonagh