Spotlight on: Katherine Cooper, Virtual Ward Nurse
Nurse Katherine Cooper joined the Virtual Ward team on secondment two months ago and explains the huge rewards of working in the service.‘’This is my twentieth year in healthcare, where I have worked as a nurse and midwife, with most of my experience being in palliative care.
“Virtual Ward (VW) interested me as I saw it as an opportunity to work dynamically and more closely with patients and their families, supporting their choices and preferences.
“I have always found the reward in working in healthcare comes from staying attuned to the meaningfulness of our work. Meeting preferred place of care has always been enormously important but, after the challenges of the last 18 months, we all appreciate more that patients want to spend as little time in hospital as possible.
“Those on VW can receive close monitoring and personalised care from staff who know them well whilst in the familiar surroundings of their own home.
“At the Virtual Ward we are able to work in partnership with patients to support them whilst they continue or adjust treatment, recover from illness or develop confidence whilst adapting to changes in their health.
“To join a brand new and rapidly developing service was also a big draw – and all of the team are encouraged to contribute ideas and experience to help develop the service. It is incredibly exciting and it is easy to understand how it is only going grow in the future.
“I have been on VW for almost two months now and it has been some of the most enjoyable time of my career.
“We are a small team but we work widely with colleagues right across the patient journey through the Trust, from the front door of the ambulance bay to out-patients, GP referrals, maternity and emergency surgery, allowing us to understand the value of maximising patient flow within the hospital.
“We have been able to develop our understanding of how the local healthcare puzzle fits together, finding new services that allow us to work creatively with community colleagues and to develop flexible and individualised plans of care.
“By understanding the workings of the hospital we can also ensure that patients are safely escalated, transferred or seen on site promptly when needed. It is hugely rewarding to feel we are offering a very high standard of care – getting to know our patients well and realising more of the nuances and facets of their health journey.’’
Friday 9th of July 2021 01:22:35 PM