Oban nurse has infectious enthusiasm for her post
Over the coming year The Oban Times will be running a series of fortnightly articles championing the work carried out by Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) in the Oban, Lorn and the Isles locality.
Each article will feature a specific service provided by the HSCP and will focus on the staff who provide that service and the role they play in making a positive difference for the people living in Oban and surrounding areas.
This week we look at the work of the infection control nurse for Argyll.
YVONNE BLAINEY is based in Oban and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership. Her role includes prevention, investigation and control of infection regionally and locally and she is also responsible for monitoring laboratory results to check for infections and outbreaks.
She also ensures staff working within other parts of the Argyll and Bute area are up-to-date with infection prevention
The ‘stay at home’ campaign is key to preventing the spread of illnesses such as flu nad norovirus
Yvonne Blainey
training as well as new infection prevention and control initiatives.
Yvonne’s role is pivotal to the health of communities, patients and visitors across Argyll and Bute.
Yvonne has lived in Oban all her life. She loves Oban and only ever imagines living somewhere hot in mid-winter although that’s only a fleeting thought as she could not leave her home town.
The challenges facing an infection control nurse in Oban are, in many cases, the same as those facing a nurse in the city but the remote and rural nature of Argyll and Bute brings its own challenges and complexities.
Yvonne left Oban in 1986 to start nurse training and returned to her home town in 1991 as an enrolled nurse. She then went on to work in Dalintart hospital in Oban and studied to become a staff nurse.
In 1995, she moved to theatre duties when the Lorn and Islands Hospital opened and worked in theatres/ endoscopy for 20 years dealing with routine and emergency situations with other colleagues to save and improve people’s lives.
After the birth of her third child, Yvonne took a career break and then started her position as an infection prevention and control nurse in August 2016. As part of this role, she continues to study towards a master’s degree in infection control at the University of the Highlands and Islands and also still works one day a week in theatre when required.
Yvonne normally works office hours but has to be flexible to meet the demands of emergencies or travelling distances. She manages to coordinate her daily duties by the use of digital technology and finds it is relatively easy to prioritise on a daily basis between routine and immediate tasks.
A daily plan of events may, however, change instantly in response to an emerging situation and routine work may need to be shelved until later.
It can also be challenging covering a large geographical area and making sure that all hospital and community staff are receiving equal attention. When visiting one hospital, she still has to maintain contact with all the others and the lack of a mobile signal in some areas of Argyll and Bute can be challenging as she has to continually monitor laboratory results. She also has to educate staff and give advice on patient care.
She said that as a healthcare professional patients were always her priority and kindness was most important for patients.
No matter what qualification or position, possessing a smile costs nothing and can mean everything to a patient, visitor or colleague, along with good quality individual care, patient safety and good teamwork.
Living in Oban, Yvonne finds it difficult at times to switch off at the end of a shift, as working and being a resident means she knows many of the patients and their families personally. She relies on her faith, family, exercise, husband’s jokes and support from colleagues to get her through these difficult days.
Yvonne has also given some advice on dealing with winter ailments and self-managing winter bugs.
‘Although it seems like a harsh message the “stay at home” campaign is key to preventing the spread of illnesses, such as flu and norovirus,’ she said.
‘Washing hands, using tissues and covering your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing are also really important.
‘Although most healthy adults will recover quickly from these infections, elderly and already sick people can become very ill so it’s really important that we protect them. Stay at home, drink plenty and rest is best.
‘We all have a part to play in infection prevention.’
Yvonne also advised people to visit nhsInform.scot website for self-care advice and information.