Interesting people – Tom Dugdale

Meet Tom, District Nurse Caseload Holder, Hillside Bridge District Nursing Team

#InterestingPeopleFulfillingCareers

I hadn’t even considered nursing as a career – I wanted to be in the police, but I was told I needed more experience with people, so I worked for various companies in call centre customer service for five years.  Then a family member talked to me about nursing and I thought I’d have a look at it, so I did an access course, then the three years to qualify.

It was all new to me, but in my lectures they talked about holistic nursing care – people not ailment focused, and my experience on placement with the district nursing teams at Bradford District Care Trust was that they seemed to embody holistic nursing care.

I didn’t feel that in a hospital setting – to me that felt more like nursing by numbers, the patients come in, you deal with the ailment and then they leave. With district nursing you’re in the patient’s own arena and you have to work with them – that collaborative approach I really enjoy and it’s very rewarding when you see a patient healed and they tell you the difference you’ve made for them.

From my first placement in my first year and I could see myself doing this job. I have children and district nursing seems to be more family friendly too – this style of work seems to work for me, I joined the Care Trust straight from college and I’m still here.

#InterestingPeopleRewardingWork

Although the job may be similar day to day, the people you meet make it different each time. I’m a people person and I enjoy meeting people from all different backgrounds because there’s always something to learn – even when you meet very difficult patients.

We go from more affluent areas where the elderly tend to recognise us as experts and happily do what we ask them, then into the inner city where it can be a younger clientele who ask “Why?” more. I think that’s good, I enjoy that challenge, they read up on things and push back so you have to be on the ball, on point with your clinical knowledge and able to explain that to a patient – not dumbing it down, but not using gobbledygook jargon either.

I enjoy variety in any job – and I’ve never had a single job as long as I’ve had this one because the variety is always there.

#InterestingPeopleExcitingProjects

I like pushing forward how we deliver care too. I’m passionate about improving how we do things and believe the easiest thing to do should be the only thing to do. I firmly believe that nursing has to evolve and that creates challenge in itself. People have been doing things a particular way for years, but it’s not necessarily the best way any more – particularly as technology moves on.

As part of our Care Trust Way approach, we looked at our process for administering diabetic insulin – what could cause errors and how to reduce them. Paperwork was a contributory factor and there was duplication of notes with SystmOne. We worked together to create a process where we only used SystmOne and trialled it in three DN teams.

We were anxious, but it worked, it instantly sped things up. We troubleshot the process during the trial and now the improved version has been rolled out across all our district nursing teams. It felt good to do and I felt I was listened to. I hope we can now apply that approach to other medications we issue.

#InterestingPeopleBestPlaceToWork

It’s been 10 years since I joined the Care Trust and I’ve worked in various different teams.  Through all that time and moving from team to team, it’s stayed with me what it’s like to be a new person in a close knit team as a student or new starter.

No one likes to feel left out or on the edge, so we always try to create a really warm, welcoming atmosphere for new recruits and to make sure everyone feels they are contributing and “part of the gang” right from the start. I think you need to be told you’re doing a good job as well as have things pointed out if somethings not right.

I got on really quickly once I joined the Trust. I did a step-up programme for band 5 nurses taking on more seniority, then a senior staff nurse programme and a top up diploma at Leeds.  People here have been willing to invest in me – time and training. It’s all been positive which is why I’ve stayed.

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