Tag Archives: care

6 C’ing my way through nursing

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The title of this blog entry is probably a little cryptic, so let me explain.

Back in 2012 (before I started my nursing course) in light of some of the most horrendous scandals to hit the NHS, the Chief Nursing Officer of England (Jane Cummings) set a 3 year vision and strategy that would include 6 specific action areas to ultimately deliver  and implement Compassion in Practice (CiP) at all levels of our National Health Service. These areas are:

  1. Action area one: Helping people to stay independent, maximise well-being and improving health outcomes
  2. Action area two: Working with people to provide a positive experience of care
  3. Action area three: Delivering high quality care and measuring the impact
  4. Action area four: Building and strengthening leadership
  5. Action area five: Ensuring we have the right staff, with the right skills, in the right place
  6. Action area six: Supporting positive staff experience

I’m sure everyone will agree that all of the above are vital if the NHS is to meet the expectations of the very people which rely on it, . But…they are a little wordy aren’t they? They don’t really roll off the tip of your tongue. So to help with that, the 6 Cs were created – the 6 Cs encompass the ethos of the Compassion in Practice strategy and cover:

  1. Care
  2. Compassion
  3. Communication
  4. Competence
  5. Commitment
  6. Courage

Again, I’m sure you will agree that they above qualities are essential in Nursing and Care staff. Nonetheless, there are people out who are not quite convinced that the 6Cs and the CiP vision will make any sort of impact. Some people believe that the 6C’s are a gimmick, and that nursing staff should not need to be reminded of the 6Cs to do their jobs….and to a certain extent, they are perhaps correct. Health professionals should not need to be reminded that they are in fact in caring professions. However, there are many examples out there of a lack of compassion, as we are frequently reminded of by the media, so something needs to change. My view is that something is better than nothing and I am an avid fan of making change happen and not simply sitting down and complaining about it.

The 6Cs act as a prompt, as a reflection model and as a really really good reminder of what Nurses are fantastically good at. They should be used to celebrate achievements, to show how there is no other profession quite as unique and rewarding as nursing, and to remind us all of why we do what we do (whether qualified or not). They are not – in my view – a tool to metaphorically beat people up with nor are they a framework on which to blame bad practice or culture.

So, in light of that, I want to dedicate a blog entry to each of those 6 Cs and I want to start this blog with Courage – keep your eyes pealed for it!

Volunteer needed for pulse taking

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What a week! It has been so full of ‘stuff’ that it is really quite hard to know where to begin so I will start from the beginning!

Last week we had a couple of lectures but this week has been the start of the real deal. I’m actually really enjoying it and I’m not feeling quite as overwhelmed as I thought I would be. It is amazing however how some words take new meanings or mean so much more when you start to think about them.

Dignity. What?. Humanising care. What does that mean? Power. Who has power? They are such big words aren’t they? Not in length maybe, but in context they are HUGE words with an immense amount of meaning. They mean something different to different people, because in short, all are about being treated as an individual. Not a number or statistic or condition. Everyone has different needs, even with identical conditions, people will have different personalities, fears, symptoms etc…How can all these similar and yet unique characteristics be accommodated?  It can be about things such as not generalising due to gender, race or disability or it can be about little details such as being given the opportunity to wear or not wear socks to bed or be allowed to brush your teeth before a meal. How would it feel to be prevented or stopped from doing things that are important to you or that make you feel safe and comfortable? How would it feel to be limited in such a way? To have decisions being made on your behalf without anyone listening to your needs, wants and preferences? How would you like to be treated like this? What if it was your grandparents or children being treated like this? 

Most people do not choose to be ill, and even if it is somewhat self-inflicted, should we not share, encourage and empower decision-making and accountability in patients in conjunction with family members and carers? Should we not give patients power to also help themselves, to have a voice and remain independent? If you want to see a good example of how treating others as individuals and well… as humans, can challenge undignified, dehumanising and controlling ‘care’ watching One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest is a good start. I honestly cannot believe it has taken me 30 years to watch it. It truly deserves the many many awards that it won. I for one am extremely grateful that nursing, medicine and practice is forever moving forwards.

The ‘art of nursing’ is something that we are really spending a lot of time of during the first year of our course and I can definitely see why. It is so important to understand and be able to apply all the above big words (I’m sure there is many more but I don’t know them all yet) to nursing and to everyday life really.

The other side of study at the moment is ‘the science of nursing’. In other words, learning all about the body structure, organisation and functions. I haven’t studied biology for 14 years since I finished my Double Award Science GCSEs so the science side has definitely been a worry for me! Those people who have known and seen me in the months prior to September will know that I have been carrying Anatomy and Physiology (A+P) paper books, podcasts, Kindle e-books, iPhone Apps etc.. with me the whole time, even taking them with me on work trips and holidays so that I could study and I think that maybe, just maybe, my studying may have helped! I actually didn’t feel completely lost during our first A+P lecture. I understood nearly all of it and it makes me sooooo happy to think that I can actually do this! As every day, lecture, power point presentation and piece of homework goes by, I’m getting more and more excited about Nursing. What an amazing profession! So what if it involves wiping bums, I will be able to do it with kindness and dignity and will also be able to assess whether the poo looks as healthy as it should! I bet not many people can do that.

Oh…and I’m now also trained to provide Basic Life Support – so I would be able to care for someone who is choking, semi-conscious or unconscious, and I’m now able to carry out  the recovery position and give CPR! We practiced on Bob, our very accommodating Mannequin/Manikin/Dummy…Poor thing…it can’t be good having 12 student nurses practising CPR on you for nearly 2 hours! I really enjoyed it but I was a little worried that I would do something stupid. It was actually a very relaxed and supportive atmosphere! I didn’t really want it to end and I wanted to carry on practising! I need some volunteers to help me practice with taking the pulse. There is only so many times I can sneak next to people at uni and poke them to take their carotid pulse and Bob doesn’t have one. Any offers?

Thinking about it, since I have joined the university Hiking Club and my first hike is tomorrow, I may just ask some unsuspecting fellow hikers if they would mind letting me practice on them….but only practice! I’m crossing my fingers and toes that there will be no need to any real life basic life support…Just a nice, pleasant, 17k stroll will do. It does however feel quite reassuring to know that in an emergency, I am now able to help a little.

‘Every little helps’ – Tesco