Working life: Claire Foley, nurse practice development Facilitator, Midlands Regional Hospital

6.30am

My husband, John, drops Harry, 9, and Jack, 7, to school and twins, Jessica and Ben, 2, to the childminder.

8am

At the hospital, I collect my bleep, check my diary and emails, and answer staff queries about training and education. Although I’m a nurse, I’m not involved in patient care — my role is to advance nurse practice through initiatives, training, and education to support the delivery of high-quality care.

Currently, I’m the main co-ordinator for the Hello My Name IS campaign, started by Kate Granger, a UK doctor who recently died from cancer.

During her treatment, Dr Granger noticed that many staff did not introduce themselves before delivering care and so she started the Hello My Name Is campaign to improve staff/patient communication.

We launched the campaign recently in Tullamore, with new name badges and pledges of commitment from 450 staff.

10am

I spend some of the morning liaising with our sepsis committee about the national guideline for managing this life-threatening condition.

Sepsis arises when the body’s response to infection injures its own tissues and organs.

I facilitate staff training and education in sepsis-awareness, and have implemented a screening tool to assist staff to recognise sepsis early and treat accordingly to improve patient outcomes.

1pm

I have lunch at my desk, while working through emails.

2pm

I’m the site co-ordinator for nurse prescribing and am auditing their prescriptions.

We have 12 nurse prescribers, who are extremely beneficial to the patient — for example, a clinical nurse specialist in diabetes can prescribe insulin. It’s my job to support the nurse prescribers.

3pm

I set aside an hour or two in the afternoon to facilitate nurses to attend study days and training days.

Education and training are a big part of what I do. I also spend time liaising with the printers, about a wound-care chart that we are developing for use in the hospital.

5pm

I head home, collecting the older kids from my parents, and the twins from the childminder en route.

Then, it’s dinner time, followed by homework, sorting schoolbags, and getting ready to do it all again the next day.

• Claire Foley, nurse practice development Facilitator, Midlands Regional Hospital, Tullamore