KATE MCELVANEY

Working agency shifts in anaesthetics and recovery in Sydney.

• Completing the pre-operative checklist by assessing vital signs, medications, and fasting status prior to procedures. Evaluate allergy and alert status, airway assessment, and full surgical and medical history.
• Review blood results and the use of blood thinners or TED stockings. Ensure that consent and identification checks are valid.
• Prepare the theatre for a variety of gynaecology, surgical, orthopaedic, ENT, and obstetric surgical cases, including emergency anaesthetic equipment. Checking anaesthetic medication stock, airway equipment, preparing for spinal or regional anaesthetic, and arterial and central line insertions.
• Monitoring the patient and assisting the anaesthetic team intra-operatively, for example, blood transfusions, and obtaining arterial blood gases.
• Assessing airway and extubating laryngeal mask airways in PACU, and assisting with endotracheal tube extubations. Assessing the level of spinal blocks, monitoring arterial blood pressures and patient-controlled analgesia infusions.
• Assessing patients' alertness, wound care, temperature, pain, nausea and airway status post-operatively. Ensuring their holistic needs are also met by answering any post-operative concerns.
• Giving an efficient handover to the ward nurse to allow continuity of care.
• Escalating concerns appropriately to theatre managers, consultant anaesthetists, surgeons, etc.

• Caring for surgical patients with dedication, compassion, and commitment, inclusive of NMBI's six core nursing values.
• Admitted and assessed surgical patients from the emergency and operating departments. Conducted thorough medical history investigations, including vital sign assessments, neurological status, post-operative wounds and other relevant evaluations.
• Ensuring appropriate time management and prioritising my nursing tasks, for example, medication management, personal care, escalating deteriorating patients, and ensuring appropriate medical review, while communicating efficiently with patients, their families, and the interdisciplinary teams.
• Caring for patients with acute surgical nursing care needs such as nasogastric and total parenteral nutrition, intravenous antibiotics, pain relief, anti-emetics, insulin, stoma care, VAC dressings, surgical site dressings, drains, epidural, and patient-controlled analgesia infusions, monitoring chest drains, as well as caring for patients in the immediate post-operative period.
• I also cared for both medical and palliative care patients. Providing holistic and compassionate care to both patients and their families.
• Evaluating and updating patient care plans, and documenting my nursing notes. Checking blood results, and updating the medical team.
• Competently handing over patients at the end of shift.