Muireann Ashe

My role entails nursing patients with acquired brain injuries along their rehabilitation journey, via evidence based practice, within a multidisciplinary team. My place of work is a rehabilitation treatment centre for people with challenging behaviour resulting from acquired brain injury. It is a fast paced dynamic healthcare environment, that requires one to be readily adaptable to changing conditions and be proficient at multitasking. I work with patients here utilising positive behaviour approaches, in order to maintain an optimum level of relational security on the ward.

Here the patient group have acquired brain injuries and challenging behaviour, with various complex co-morbidities including epilepsy, diabetes , COPD and various mental health conditions such as personality disorders and psychotic features.

My role as a nurse here involves key-working, collating treatment plans, daily patient assessment, coordinating both patient care and staff duties, medication administration, recording patient daily physical observations and monitoring vital signs, and maintaining accurate record keeping.

The intimate nature of my job requires a professional approach, by developing therapeutic relationships with patients through providing dignified care, while concurrently maintaining impartiality - keeping in line with the standards set out by the NMC.

I trained as a covid and flu vaccinator when I joined the staff bank which has been invaluable experience in my journey in becoming a qualified nurse. I have worked in different wards at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh where I gained experience working within general wards undertaking patient personal care, care-rounding and assisting with mealtimes. I gained excellent experience working within these busy environments within multidisciplinary teams, where good communication skills and effective teamwork are both extremely important for best patient outcomes. I obtained invaluable experience during this time where I encountered patients with complex co-morbidities while gaining an insight into how such co-morbidities affect patients on a holistic level.

Support worker working with people who had learning disabilities and a wide range of co-morbidities including physical disabilities and mental health conditions. Supporting people to live as independently and autonomously as possible. Helping people with their medication administration, personal care needs and financial support. Within this role I promoted social inclusion by facilitating service users to access their local community.

Supporting adults with learning disabilities, autism and challenging behaviour in a day centre and respite. I learned a lot while I worked here, particularly surrounding key-working responsibilities, care-planning and the importance of record keeping. Here I had the opportunity to hone my communication skills, working with service-users who utilised various communication styles such as Makaton. I gained a wealth of knowledge here regarding positive behavioural support, de-escalation techniques, and how best to support people with complex disabilities and their specific health needs. Many of the service users I worked for had complex epilepsy and part of my job was to administer patient medication daily. Working here led me to the decision to become a nurse, as I became very interested and passionate about the physical and mental health of the people that I supported, and how co-morbidities affected activities of daily living and their subsequent impact on autonomy.

Supported people with a wide range of disabilities with their personal care needs and medication administration. This was my first care job. I worked with people who had strokes, mental illness such as schizophrenia, physical disabilities such as spina bifida, and learning disabilities. I learned a lot during my time here - finding support work a very rewarding job, it ignited my passion for working within the health and social care sector.