Paula Dimarco is an Advanced Physiotherapist working in a critical care unit that specialises in neurological conditions or injuries, and major trauma.
Through her interaction with the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, which includes regular emails about CPD opportunities, she became aware of a forum they were hosting on the topic of major trauma and brain injury, which is directly relevant to her clinical practice.
She discussed the opportunity of attending the conference with her line manager as part of her personal develop plan and then with the department’s clinical educator – collectively they agreed that the conference would also benefit a number of her colleagues and seven of them were able to attend.
“Through my interaction with the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, which includes regular emails about CPD opportunities, I became aware of the forum that they were hosting on the topic of major trauma and brain injury, which is directly relevant to my clinical practice,” explains Paula.
“I discussed the possibility of attending the conference with my line manager and we agreed that it should form part of my personal develop plan. then after speaking to our clinical educator we agreed that it would be the perfect opportunity for myself and colleagues to collectively use our CPD funding to arrange for more than one of use to attend the event.”
Influencing and shaping patient care
Paula explains why this particular event was so beneficial. “I work on Ward 18 at the RVI which is the critical care unit caring for extremely vulnerable patients with major trauma injuries or neurological, often brain related injuries.
“So I was confident that everything discussed at the conference would be directly applicable to my clinical caseload, even if it didn’t change my therapeutic handling skills as a physiotherapist.
“In particular I was sure that what I learnt would consolidate and enhance my understanding of the medical management of the patients I care for, and so give me the opportunity to review my practice in the context of the trauma that people have gone through and how I might be impacting the subsequent physiological reaction.”
Paula continued “It was also good to see what research is currently being undertaken and how that might influence patient management in the future.”
Key driver
“One of the key drivers for me to attend a conference such as the ESICM,” explains Paula, “is to see how people manage trauma and brain injury in other countries and to bring this knowledge back and gently challenge our clinical practice at Newcastle.
“This means we can make sure we are continuing to offer the best possible evidence-based and expert-consensus treatment.”
Paula adds “From a more personal perspective, it is good to have a reminder of the physiological processes that patients are undergoing when they are critically injured and the medical management that they might have. I can look for signs of deterioration and contribute to timely intervention to counter this.”
“I usually find that however well I think I know a subject, there is often a nugget of information that helps me to better understand a physiological process or causes me to re-think a treatment technique by improving my clinical reasoning.”
Professional benefits
“Being able to attend the ESICM afforded me the opportunity to hear from, share practice and network with colleagues who work with the same caseload of patients across Europe and America,” says Paula.
“I can bring this information back to the workplace and disseminate it amongst my colleagues to make sure that we are delivering the best care possible, which will hopefully enhance the patient experience.
She adds “From a staff perspective, having the opportunity to go to Athens with minimal expense to ourselves made us feel really valued by the organisation, which in turn heightened our enthusiasm for the conference, meaning we engaged in all aspects of the sessions and have returned ready to share our knowledge with our peers.
“For a short while at least, we have naturally become leaders as this new knowledge has empowered us to support the education of our colleagues and to influence patent management on the ward where we work.”
I absolutely recommend seeking CPD support to my colleagues.
When asked if she would recommend seeking CPD funding Paula says: “I absolutely recommend seeking CPD support to my colleagues.
“Even though we work in an outstanding and pioneering Trust that is heavily involved in research, it is important to benchmark practice against the rest of the world and take opportunities to share what we do and learn from others to make sure we are providing the best possible service for our patients but also maximising and improving our own knowledge and skills.
“Sometimes it is difficult to know how to take advantage of CPD opportunities, but the training and education team are all on hand to support everyone through this process and are only too happy to help.
“I was really lucky because this particular conference was in Athens and, like most people, I immediately thought that it would be completely unavailable to me, but the NMAHPs CPD funding covered the course fees and I was able to access critical care charitable funds to help cover the costs of travel and accommodation.
“There are lots of CPD opportunities locally, nationally and internationally and many professional bodies or employing organisations have money set aside to support people to attend, so make sure you take advantage of what is available and get yourself along to an event that interests you.”
Further information
If you would like to find out more about applying for CPD funding our Newcastle Clinical Skills Academy team would love to hear from you. Get in touch:
email nuth.newcastleclinicalskillsacademy@nhs.net
Telephone: 0191 2824710
