Leontia Hoy

Advocacy in Pain Management: The Role of the Anaesthetic Nurse Specialist

Peri-operative nursing practice is constantly changing and demanding specialist knowledge, skills and expertise to embrace these changes. All patients in need of anaesthesia are entitled to the same high quality peri-operative care and therefore those assisting the anaesthetist must be competent and effective practitioners. With this in mind the authors shall give a reflective account highlighting the role of Anaesthetic Nurse Specialist (ANS) in promoting leadership within the peri-operative environment and how it can be nurtured and facilitated to achieve professional autonomy and promote patient advocacy.

Anaesthetic nurse specialist role: leading and facilitation in clinical practice

Leadership and its effectiveness is becoming more prevalent within the nursing profession with anaesthetic nurse specialists showing their ability to lead, inspire and motivate others to work towards a shared vision in the rapidly changing peri-anaesthesia environment. Anaesthetic nurse specialists must therefore be aware of their personal leadership skills and continually develop these within clinical practice. They are also well placed regarding the facilitation of learning.

A mother's journey from the roadside to the operating room.

Sometimes I wonder why I wandered into the nursing profession, but in the past few years it has become clear--I became a nurse to look after my son. As we journey through life we try to predict and plan our future. Life twists and turns in so many ways just like my sons life when one fateful day those plans and predictions were smashed. I recount, as a mother my sons journey into your hands ... the operating room. Some names have been changed.

Critical Incident Analysis: Equip to avoid failure

This work is set in the context of perioperative practice in difficult airway management. It integrates a root cause analysis and fish bone technique to investigate a critical incident in temporary yet crucial equipment failure. Risk management and incident reporting is analysed alongside human factors in the operating theatre environment. Finally, recommendations for risk reduction, vigilance and checking vital airway equipment are made in anaesthetic practice.

A framework for challenging deficits in compression bandaging techniques

Northern Irish (and all UK-based) health care is facing major challenges. This article uses a specific theory to recommend and construct a framework to address challenges faced by the author, such as deficits in compression bandaging techniques in healing venous leg ulcers and resistance found when using evidence-based research within this practice. The article investigates the challenges faced by a newly formed community nursing team. It explores how specialist knowledge and skills are employed in tissue viability and how they enhance the management of venous leg ulceration by the community nursing team. To address these challenges and following a process of reflection, Lewins forcefield analysis model of change management can be used as a framework for some recommendations made.