Working life with Bernadette Bowen

Bernadette Bowen, respiratory nurse specialist, Cork University Hospital

7am

I have breakfast with my husband Declan and one-year-old daughter Cari, before dropping her to the childminder and heading to work.

8.30am

My day gets underway with a run through emails, blood test results and patient admissions. The patients I deal with have interstitial lung disease, which describes a large group of disorders, most of which cause lung fibrosis, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This is a chronic, fatal disease characterised by progressive scarring of the lungs. I also see patients with COPD, as well as patients with general respiratory conditions like asthma.

9.15am

I head for the secretary’s office to collect post and to pick-up notes on patients due to attend our Wednesday outpatient oxygen clinic. The respiratory physiotherapist and I carry out full oxygen assessments on patients, some of whom come in to have oxygen levels adjusted and some of whom are new referrals.

11am

I have a quick coffee and Danish.

11.30am

The assessments take about 40 minutes each so we see three to four patients during the morning. The physiotherapist conducts specific walk testing to ensure oxygen supply levels are maintained. All of our patients are adults and generally over the age of 65, but we do see people from age 45 upwards.

1pm

Once a week we hold a multidisciplinary team meeting over lunch attended by myself, the respiratory consultants, radiologist and pathologist. We discuss CT scans and x-rays and the patients. On other days I lunch with friends.

2pm

The lung fibrosis clinic gets underway. Patients are seen by the doctor and I talk to them about their diagnosis, their treatment and psychological support, or referral to the physio, or the occupational therapist or to palliative care.

I also ask for their consent to include their details on the new national patient registry for lung fibrosis. The Irish Thoracic Society recently launched the registry and I am on the steering group. It will give us better data on the number of patients with lung fibrosis and it will help with research.

5pm

I head off to collect Cari and to spend some quality time with her. After that, it’s couch time

- see: www.irishthoracicsociety.com