There is no such thing as a typical day’s work in the life of a respiratory nurse specialist role, or any nursing really, which is part of the fun and challenge of the role as every day brings something new. I’ve been a nurse for over 25 years and can track how my respiratory role and career have woven through advanced nurse practitioner work and non-medical prescriber role in primary, secondary and community care in the UK and Germany. My current role at City and Hackney CCG at Homerton University Hospital, London is developing an integrated adult asthma service and providing community outreach and support to primary care colleagues and patients.
8am
The first task of the morning is monitoring asthma admissions, speaking with the wards and to see if any asthma patients are present in the department. Some mornings start with a hospital or community-based outpatient’s clinic concentrating on patients following recent hospital admissions or who have severe asthma symptoms and required increased monitoring and shared care between their GP and secondary care. Less frequently I’ve been bleeped to review patients in maternity and on mental health wards. As I work in a wider multidisciplinary team managing COPD, bronchiectasis and interstitial lung disease alongside asthma, there’s time in the mornings to check patient allocations and catch up with any issues in the team.
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