And the winner is…
Paula Newman, Apprentice Dental Nurse
Having recently begun her dental nurse training, Paula has, right from the start, been motivated by an eagerness to learn and do well and has consistently high standards of infection control, as well as in all aspects of her working activities.
Upholding the trust’s core values, she works confidently and competently with any grade of staff from third-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery students up to consultant level.
While her effective time management and organisational skills in facilitating patient treatment, always ensure sessions run on time!
As part of a revision task set in the classroom, Paula created a game which was to identify the nerve supply to each of the upper / lower teeth and the type of injection required to anaesthetise those nerves for pain-free dental treatment.
Spotted at a recent careers event, steps are now being taken to develop and patent it and make it available in the RVI nursing library.
Described as a ‘valuable member of the team who supports clinicians whilst offering the best care to her patients’ it’s clear Paula has a really bright future ahead of her in dentistry.
Finalist – Jaqueline Hemmer, Occupational Therapist
Identifying that the usual practice / assessment of phoning patients awaiting total hip replacement to educate them on hip precautions and arrange for assistive equipment at home (without making an appointment) was taking at least two or three phone calls for each person, Jacqueline took it upon herself to resolve this process.
The senior occupational therapy technical instructor (OTTI) collected data and met with the Newcastle Improvement team, subsequently carrying out a staff satisfaction survey with the team making the calls, trialling a formalised phone clinic, collecting outcomes, and writing a standard operating procedure for administration and clinical staff.
All of this was done while Jacqueline started her apprenticeship to become a qualified occupational therapist, supported other OTTIs, and assisted with developing the new preoperative functional assessment and education of patients waiting for foot and ankle surgery (day and inpatient) where they would be under instruction to remain non-weight bearing for several weeks post operatively.
The outcome? Staff are very satisfied with the ease and timeliness of the phone call assessments, with almost all patients now only needing one call, saving enough time to carry out more appointments. The model has been so successful, Jacqueline has also used it for non-weight bearing foot and ankle patients and it is anticipated it could be rolled out for more people needing elective surgery where they will have a decrease in function or have to follow strict post operative instructions.
