District nurse and RCN steward Jill Gale developed online training to improve patient care and ensure nursing staff had access to CPD during the pandemic
In April, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jill Gale, a specialist practitioner district nurse and RCN steward from North Yorkshire, was told to shield at home.
“Managers were looking at how they could utilise the skills of those shielding,” says Jill, who is also a member of the RCN Northern Board. “I’ve previously worked as a trust lead for end of life care and I have experience in developing palliative care policies.
“Palliative and end of life care is my bread and butter really; it’s the job that I love. It was suggested that I could look at what could be improved in this area and the clinical lead for palliative care asked me to roll out online verification of expected death training to nursing staff in our community services.”
Jill says that for those working clinically, training and continuing professional development (CPD) has been put on the back burner, and in some cases has almost stopped completely, due to the demand and extra workload that the pandemic has brought.
“Nursing staff are out there fighting COVID-19 at the coalface,” says Jill. “We wanted to make sure our community staff still had the chance to access training and enhance their skills. Delivering the training online through Microsoft Teams also meant that those shielding weren’t left out.”
We wanted to make sure our community staff still had the chance to access training and enhance their skills
Improving patient care
Jill developed the training herself, scoping the amount of community staff, putting together a presentation and an online teaching session. Jill says: “I rolled out the training to community staff in my area first and then staff from other areas of the trust also joined. I’ve now trained about 350 nurses in verification of expected death – a skill that many staff didn’t have.”
Jill completed her own training in this area many years ago but explains that because it’s not part of the essential criteria for employment, there was a gap in those able to carry it out.
Jill says: “All too often, especially during out of hours, families have to wait a long time before a GP can visit to perform verification of death. Nurse-led verification will help alleviate this problem and families will no longer have the added anxiety of waiting.
“It also enables community nursing staff to provide holistic care for families. They can verify an expected death for a patient they’ve possibly been nursing for quite a few weeks giving the family support from someone they know at such a difficult time.”
Jill says that this is especially important during COVID-19 with some GPs carrying out verification of deaths remotely. “Community nursing staff in full personal protective equipment (PPE) can now go in and perform that task,” says Jill.
It enables community nursing staff to provide holistic care, giving the family support from someone they know at such a difficult time
Fit for the future
Staff attending Jill’s course can record 90 minutes of face-to-face training for the purpose of revalidation, complete a self-assessment competency sheet and receive a certificate for their portfolio.
“I’ve had lots of positive feedback,” says Jill. “Staff like the flexibility. They don’t have to spend time travelling and it’s cost effective for the trust as staff aren’t clocking up extra miles or parking fees.
“It’s also rewarding for staff to learn new skills, especially for those who might not be able to work clinically at the moment. One nurse told me that she felt empowered, more competent and now recognised her own worth.”
The training has been so successful that Jill’s trust has decided to make it mandatory for community nursing staff and Jill is now working on future-proofing the course for new recruits and those returning from long-term leave by recording a training video that can be accessed at any time.
One nurse told me that she felt empowered, more competent and now recognised her own worth
We also recognise that some staff might not be doing this task regularly,” says Jill. “Going forward staff will have this extended skill reviewed as part of their annual development review and can refresh their training if needed.”
Jill, who is now looking at other opportunities to deliver training online, says that at the start of the pandemic she was feeling undervalued and left out. “I felt bad that I wasn’t on the frontline helping my colleagues,” says Jill.
“But this project has allowed me to contribute to the nursing workforce at this crucial time and deliver safe, cost-effective training, upskilling nurses while we’re in the uncharted waters of COVID-19.”
Words by Zara Davies. Pictures by Simon Veit-Wilson
More information
For RCN advice and guidance on verification of death during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit our end of life care pages.
