New initiative improving care for stroke patients
An innovative staff education programme has been developed by the Acute Stroke Unit at Sunderland Royal Hospital to improve patient care.
Stroke Specialist Nurse DianeGulliver originally came up with the idea of offering staff on the unit a weekly education session, drawing on the varied expertise of the multi disciplinary team involved in stroke care and rehabilitation for South Tyneside and SunderlandNHS Foundation Trust patients.
This includes consultants, nurses and allied healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and or th opt ists who investigate, diagnose, monitor and manage visual disorders.
A key element of the initiative is the involvement of patients, who are willing to share their personal experiences of care.
With the support of the University of Sunderland, the session has gradually been developed into a module.
The university is now in the process of developing BSc (Hons) Professional Practice and MSc Advanced Professional Practice pathways into which the module would fit.
Diane said: “It all came about when we realised so many different specialists were coming to the stroke unit and doing their jobs, but we weren’ t making best use of them as are source by sharing their knowledge, skills and expertise with the whole team.
“It was also very important for us to involve patients because,ultimately, it is their personal experience from which we need to learn in order to improve.”
Whilst it is mainly nurses who have taken advantage of the additional education opportunity so far, the module is attracting interest from members of the therapy teams working in the Acute Stroke Unit.
Other NHS Trusts in the region have also expressed an interest in introducing similar courses to help staff to widen their knowledge and skills and, potentially, gain more qualifications.
Sue Brent, head of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Sunderland, said: “It is great to see such positive work between one of our partner NHS trusts and our School of Nursing and Health Sciences coming to fruition.
“We are genuinely excited and incredibly committed to the work we are doing in supporting our NHS colleagues.”