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Help raise the profile of nursing by contributing to new project

A practice nurse has set up an online project to help highlight the work of nurses and encourage others into the profession

A practice nurse who has set up an online project to help highlight the work of nurses and encourage others into the profession is looking for nurses to share their stories.

Helen Smith, who returned to practice eight years ago, set up the WeLoveHealth site in January to share best practice and innovations, inspire others and educate and inform.

‘It showcases what nurses do – pure and simple,’ she said, explaining the importance of nurses championing their own work.

‘People don’t really know what nurses do, so it’s for nurses to share what we do – people can see what they do and learn what services are out there.’

Future of nursing

Ms Smith, who works in north-west Surrey, also said she felt more needed to be done to address the workforce crisis in the nursing profession.

‘We need to encourage more people into the profession. I do feel there is a crisis – in ten years time there is not going to be as many of us and that was something I was thinking about.

‘All these people are retiring and there is going to be a huge gap.’

Ms Smith also plans to be a mentor for nursing students and has just completed a mentorship course.

She said mentoring got her thinking about the future of the workforce and made her realise being a mentor was ‘still not enough’.

Case studies wanted

Ms Smith is now looking for other nurses to volunteer to be case studies on the site.

One of her first case studies is Chelsea and Westminster Hospital intensive care unit nurse Leigh Paxton, who shared a new initiative to help combat delirium and post traumatic stress disorder – common in long-term stay patients at the trust.

Mr Paxton said nurses keep patient diaries, which are started on admission – explaining why they have been admitted – and thereafter with daily diary entries until discharge.

'Each day the bedside nurse will fill it in, writing about the news, the weather, visitors and any changes in their condition.

'Post-discharge, we invite the patient back and go through the diary with them, helping to fill in any blanks and memories from a time when they can’t remember anything at all.'

Mr Paxton said it helps the patient work out what was real and what wasn’t, gain a better understanding of how unwell they actually were and set achievable goals for rehabilitation. 

He also summarised what being a nurse was all about.

'I think most nurses would say that good teamwork, communication, compassion, care, hard work and a dose of humour are the key ingredients to nursing.'

Follow the project on Twitter @welovehealthuk or Facebook welovehealth and email Helen@welovehealth.uk to take part in the project.

Further information

WeLoveHealth website


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