Page 32 - QARANC Vol 14 No 7 2013

30 QARANC THE GAZETTE
The Trust Nurse & Midwife Consultant ‘Nightingale Awards’
May 10 2013 saw the 9th year of the Nightingale Awards conference and the continued participation by MDHU(N) in this celebration of nursing achievement over the past year. Our involvement in this event increases every year with representation on the committee and participation in the judging of the awards. This ensures MDHU(N) further raises the military profile within STees NHS Trust.
There were increased nominations this year with Sgt Dews, Sgt Housden, Cpl Scott, Cpl Quinn, Cpl Edwards and Mrs Vivian Palmer (DMWS) representing our Military staff this year in more categories than in previous years. The Health Care Assistant award saw Cpl Edwards just pipped to the post demonstrating that we are becoming serious competition for the Trust. Cpl Edwards went on the win the Military Award (presented by Lt Col Kenward) for the high standards of care she provides as a HCA both in the MDHU and deployed
CEO of JCUH Tricia Hart with Cpl Quinn, Cpl Scott, Mr Palmer and Cpl Edwards
environments. The Theme of this year’s conference was ‘Caring with Compassion and Dignity’ with SSgt Quigley’s presentation of Compassion in a War Zone being extremely well received by all. Posters were also submitted as part of the conference from WO2 Bleasby’s team on Ward 32 as well as from Mrs Vivian Palmer and Mrs Kayleigh Cox who also provided a stand to highlight the excellent work of the Defence Medical Welfare Services at MDHU(N).
On the day there was good
Lt Col Kenward with nominees and staff from MDHU(N)
representation from the unit and we were able to provide a photographer to capture many aspects of the day from start to finish. The afternoon’s award ceremony itself was cause for further competition – this time between Lt Llewellyn, our photographer, and the Trust’s photographer both vying with each other for best shot!
The challenges of Multi-National working
On the 16 April 2012, I deployed to Afghanistan on Herrick 16, as the senior Heath Care Assistance (HCA) based on the ward.
Having been allocated our clinical teams at the Mission Specific Validation HOSPEX the bonding began. Our team consisted of 11 people in total; 8 Nurses, 2 Enrolled Nurse Practitioners (ENP) and 1 Heath Care Assistant. The team’s nationality was varied, half American half British with a civilian Paediatric Nurse in support. Our team leader was a formidable Captain McCarty a US officer who I bizarrely remember as being a very tall gentleman who scared me (and those who crossed him). Those that know me will appreciate that I am not easily scared. He did however turn out to be a gentle giant and a great leader.
The American personnel, within the team I was about to deploy with, weren’t quite sure what a HCA was as they do not have HCAs within the American Army. The nearest American equivalent is the ENP which is pretty similar to our previously known Enrolled Nurse. This lack of familiarity with my role meant they weren’t quite sure what skills I had and what I could or couldn’t do so I explained what a HCA was and what our job entailed. The breadth of the HCA skill set surprised many of the US staff as my job was a mixture of many different trades within their Army.
As the tour progressed we became increasingly busy on
the ward, having a variety of different patients from different countries including the Local Nationals. A number of these patients were women and children having sustained different types of injuries and illnesses, some even resulting in the loss of limbs.
It was during these times that I noticed that we all had very different ways of doing things whether it be a dressing change to getting a patient out of bed. This sometimes confused the patient, especially the Local Nationals, who thought that we were ‘up to something’ other than the task we’d explained to them, but after much reassurance from the interpreter they gained our trust.
On the rare occasion that we were quiet, we would all sit and learn from one another about other ways of doing these tasks so that we were all ‘singing off of the same song sheet’ and not scaring the patients, whilst developing our own clinical practices.
All in all it was a great and successful tour and a huge learning curve. We made some good friends amongst our colleagues across the water, with Facebook being a great tool to help keep in touch. I have no doubt in my mind we will meet again in a not so nice but warm environment in the future.
Sgt Stacey Hodnett, 22 Field Hospital