At Pulse Nursing at Home, our clinical leads are responsible for overseeing our packages of care and ensuring our clients are receiving the very best support. In our latest blog, one of our paediatric clinical leads tells us about her role and what a typical working day looks like.
What is your responsibility as a clinical lead?
As a paediatric clinical lead, I manage packages of care in the community for children with complex needs. This involves making sure that the needs of the children we care for are met by our nurses and carers in the community.
Due to the complex needs of each child, it’s so important to make sure that each package of care is bespoke and is constantly assessed as the client's needs will frequently change. Each child has a care plan put together by a clinical lead with the supporting documentation and evidence from their multidisciplinary team. Having good communication with these teams is so important, it ensures that you are always aware and on top of any changes to the child’s care.
For a family that has a child with complex needs, it can be life-changing to have a good support team helping to care for their child at home. I’ve found it’s really important as a clinical lead to help this transition and support the wishes of the family, whilst still making sure the nurses and carers are well supported to provide excellent clinical care.
What happens on a typical working day?
I will usually start by going through emails and checking to see whether there are any new updates on clients, this will help me to plan out the rest of the day.
When going through my emails, my main priority is checking to see if I've received messages from the on-call team overnight. They are there to offer the clients any advice or support during the night.
I make sure the night before driving to a client's home that I have all the paperwork needed before my visit and write a brief list if there is anything I need to discuss. Driving to each visit gives me a break in the day, although I may have to take a few phone calls, it’s a good opportunity to go through my packages of care in my mind.
What happens during the visits to clients’ homes?
A typical visit to my client’s home usually involves having a good catch up with the family and getting to spend some time with the client. I love this more hands-on part of the job, and it’s lovely to see the impact and support that can be provided to families in such challenging situations. Often, it’s just nice for the families to have a chat about how everything is going and to see that we really care and take on their feedback.
During my monthly reviews of each client, I make sure there haven’t been any changes to the client’s care. If so, I make a detailed plan to amend their care package and implement these changes. It's so important to keep up to date with any changes so I can ensure the client continues to receive excellent care from our healthcare professionals. The care of our clients is the main focus for us, they have trusted us to look after them, and in return, we make sure they are happy and comfortable in their homes whilst receiving the very best care from our experienced nurses and support workers.
During these visits, I also go through each child’s medication list, making sure it matches the prescriptions and transcribing a new drug chart for the next month. We always welcome feedback from the client and their family, we want to make sure they are happy with the care provided and the child is at the very best they can be.
Is there much variety in your role?
Some days I can have a full diary of travelling, such as going from one review to attending a multidisciplinary team meeting for a more complex client and then travelling to the London office for a team meeting.
As a regional clinical lead, I love being able to have so much variety in my role, the mixture of travelling, communicating with families, clients and healthcare professionals and working from home is perfect, it makes the job so exciting and never predictable.
How do you ensure everyone in the team is getting the right support?
To ensure everyone in the team is getting the support or guidance they need, we always book in regular calls and meetings to catch-up with each other. It’s great having this flexibility but also lovely to have a supportive team of people who are only ever a phone call away. I work with a fantastic group of people, and it’s nice to know that they are always happy to talk.
If you are a nurse or support worker looking to work with us, please contact us on: 0207 959 1003 or register with us here.