NES General Practice Nursing Programme Case Study

Wendy Robertson

Integrated Nurse Team Leader / Practice Nurse

Taynuilt Medical Practice

Connel

Argyll

About the practice

Taynuilt Medical Practice has seven doctors and serves around 5,000 patients over three sites in the villages of Connel, Taynuilt and Dalmally in Argyll.

  1. How would you describe your current role?

I have a clinical and leadership role within the practice team. I lead a team of 13 made up of district nurses, primary care nurses and practice nurses. The main focus of my role and majority of my time is on clinical practice. About 20% of my time is in a leadership or supervisory capacity.

  1. Can you give some background on your job and how it has changed since you’ve been in post?

I’ve been in practice nursing since 1990 and with Taynuilt Medical Practice for seventeen years. My role has grown beyond recognition as has the role of practice nursing in primary care. Practice nurses are now involved in far higher levels of care than ever imagined years ago. People are living longer and with more long term conditions and practice nurses have had to learn new skills to manage their own patients and ease some of the GP workload.

Senior practice nurses like me tend to have some kind of teaching role within the practice whether as a mentor or tutor. We endeavour to take clinical care one step further as our roles are continually evolving as the pace of change accelerates.

  1. What made you apply for the General Practice Nursing Programme?

Practice nursing can be quite isolated. The Programme seemed to offer exactly what practice nurses needed – a structured education programme not just about clinical skills but new skills learning about consultation and communication and behaviour change – subjects that you don’t get on short courses but which are integral to managing your daily work. I really wanted to be involved in this new programme to improve the standard and knowledge of new practice nurses.

  1. How long was the Programme and what format did it take?

My application to the Programme as an educational supervisor was successful. Before the Programme began all appointed educational supervisors were required to complete a “Supporting Professional Development” module which is equivalent to a practice teacher qualification. I undertook the module via distance learning over four months supported by online tutorials which were led by RobertGordonUniversity. I already had an interest in teaching and had completed a module on this previously but still found the depth of learning this module covered, challenging.

As educational supervisor I would be assigned to one of the practice nurses on the programme and conduct weekly tutorials lasting around two hours on a different subject each week. However, last year the practice nurse I supervised was based on the island of Mull and we had to factor in ferry timetables and the weather – we had to be flexible about how frequently we met.

  1. Which aspects of the programme did you enjoy? What stands out?

It was all great. I was able to put a lot of theory into practice once the tutorials got underway and kept up regular contact with my student between tutorials. At the moment I’m supervising a nurse in my own practice who is participating in the second cohort of the Programme.

  1. How has participating in the programme affected you or your current role?

In teaching and supervising I find it makes me reflect far more on my role in practice nursing. Participating in the programme as an educational supervisor makes you want to be sure that the knowledge you pass on is correct and up-to-date. It makes you want to improve your game.

A lot of the preparation for the tutorials is done at home despite consideration made for this in practice. Tutorials are slotted into our work day on a weekly basis and colleagues appreciate the importance of this.

  1. Would you recommend the General Practice Nursing (GPN) Programme to others and if yes, why?

Yes, I would. I would recommend it to participants as they can show that they have completed a structured learning programme at the beginning of their careers. It’s very worthwhile for new practice nurses as it offers a good grounding. Practice nurses can find themselves the only practice nurse in the team and early in their career can be quite professionally isolated.

While the programme is running the educational supervisors normally get together every three months to catch up and share progress. This is always beneficial and it’s great to be amongst such motivated and experienced practice nurses who have an interest in teaching or education. It’s a good way to keep up your own skills and enjoyable at the same time.