Nursing Insights
Providing a 24 hour service for patients and families is both demanding and rewarding. Helen Joels, IRHH Education & Support Co-ordinator, describes a typical experience for Iain Rennie nurses on-call.
I've been a nurse with IRHH for 5 months and I'm worrying about being on-call until tomorrow morning. Who will ring? What will I say? What can I do to help? At 3.00am the pager rings, with a message from our Night Answering Service: "Can you please ring Mrs Baker - it's urgent". I ring. Mrs Baker is at the end of her tether - she has been caring for her adult daughter for over a year with very little help.
The District Nurses and IRHH nurses have offered more help but she wants to do as much of the caring as she can herself. Crying down the phone she tells me that she can't carry on - she's hurt her back, and her daughter needs help back to bed. She can't manage. "Give me twenty minutes and I'll be there," I say. "Can you really come now?" she asks.
After 2 cups of tea apiece and with her daughter asleep, Mrs Baker is no longer crying. We have worked out a way in which the District Nurses and IRHH nurses can come each day to care for Ruth and an IRHH volunteer can sit with her while Mrs Baker goes out to have her hair done. It's been a turning point. Mrs Baker hugs me.
At 8.00am the pager goes again. "Please ring Mr Duckworth - he sounded poorly". I ring. Mr Duckworth tells me he is being sick and can't keep any food down. I tell him I'll ring his GP, we'll review his medication and I will visit him. I check that his wife can help him at the moment. I talk to the GP - we agree on an injection. I organise the prescription, then visit Mr Duckworth and give him the injection.
The next day at the weekly Iain Rennie Nurses' team meeting, Mr Duckworth rings in sounding very happy. "I've just had toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast. That injection worked wonders!" he tells me.
My first visit of the afternoon is to an elderly lady who lives with her daughter. The daughter is worried that her Mum is in pain though she never complains. Please can an IRHH nurse visit? I pull up outside a lovely old cottage. Mary lets me in - "Mum's lived here all her married life. Dad died last year and now the doctor tells me she's really ill." I find Alice's bedroom. She is lying rigid in her bed. "No, I'm not in pain," she says. "Would you like me to tell you how the IRHH nurses can help you?" I say. She nods. "We can visit you at home, talk about your medicines and plan how to keep you comfortable." "At home?" she asks. "Yes, that's what the Iain Rennie Hospice At Home does - we look after people in their homes." There is a pause and I can see tears in her eyes. "I thought if I told you I was in pain I'd have to go to hospital," she says,"and I'm not going to leave this house." "Are you in pain?" I ask. "Yes - here and here," pointing to her stomach and back. "Then I can arrange for medicines to be brought here. I'll organise it right away, if that's OK with you." She smiles and squeezes my hand.
Now I know why I'm an Iain Rennie nurse - we can meet people's needs, bring care to the home and make a real difference. Email hjoels@irhh.org.
