Page 20 - QARANC Vol 16 No 1 2018

18 QARANC THE GAZETTE
A Nurse’s reflection on a specialist training placement in perioperative practice
Lt Done and I have had the brilliant opportunity to live and work in the bustling city of Liverpool whilst studying to become Perioperative Practitioners. Our clinical placement has been within the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital. The Royal is at the heart of Liverpool, specialising in vascular and oncology care, offering endless learning opportunities whilst training for our new role.
We started off the course with the eight-month anaesthetic module. During this time, we not only had the opportunity to meet all competencies which were required in elective surgery; we also worked closely with ODPs and anaesthetists during emergencies within resus in the Emergency Department, Medical Emergency Response Team, Interventional Theatres and on the wards. In addition, we gained valuable experience with critical care patients requiring intra and inter-hospital transfers. This exposure, although challenging, developed our ability to think quickly, adapt to foreign environments and overcome issues using only the equipment provided in the emergency bags. We both thoroughly enjoyed this and it no doubt has begun to prepare us for future contingent operations and deployments.
Once the anaesthetic module was complete, we moved on to the scrub and recovery modules which we studied simultaneously. Although initially difficult to work in two very different specialities within perioperative practice, the management team and University were exceptionally helpful and accommodating with a plan to ensure that we gained the
Cpl Rebecca Carter and Lt Jeremy Done during their Perioperative Practitioner course
requisite experience to meet all of our competencies.
The experience in scrub has been second to none. We have predominately been based in theatres that specialise in breast, renal, urology and vascular surgery and have spent a lot of time in the A&E theatre too. We believe this has given us a good all- round foundation to start our careers in scrub as perioperative practitioners.
As for recovery, it was a familiar environment where we could build upon our nursing skills which we had developed for the past three years as generalist nurses. The primary focus was on anticipating and preventing the rapid deterioration of patients post- surgery.
Liverpool has a busy AMS Reserve Unit: 208 Field Hospital. We established a close working relationship with some of its reservist personnel as many of the
anaesthetists and surgeons who work within the Trust were part of this unit. This helped us to maintain our military bearing and appreciate each other’s company as the only regular military personnel within the hospital.
The Royal Hospital and Edge Hill University have been both challenging and demanding but ultimately very rewarding. All thanks to the wonderful and dedicated staff who made us feel part of the team. We are very grateful to have had this unique opportunity and believe it has shaped us into competent and confident perioperative practitioners. Theatre nursing is a highly-specialised field that we would both encourage other military nurses to gain experience in, and subsequently specialise in.
Cpl Rebecca Carter and Lt Jeremy Done
70th Anniversary of the formation of QARANC
2019 is a very special year for the QARANC as it will be 70 years (the platinum anniversary) since its formation as a constituent corps of the British Army in 1949. Discussions about how we celebrate are already well underway, and everyone at RHQ is getting excited and enthusiastically generating
ideas. Celebratory events are being planned to take place throughout the year. We will keep you updated via the website, and further information will be published in the Autumn edition of the Gazette.