Stacie Hughes

Hello my name is Stacie, I am a ward sister on a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). A PICU is a specialised ward that provides care for patients who are in an acutely disturbed phase of a serious mental disorder.

To begin taking on the challenge of changing the culture within a large team, while managing a busy complex environment, feels like a daunting task. I strive to develop my leadership, coaching and facilitation skills, to assist my approach to successfully lead a culture change, so with the support from the FoNS I hope to build on these skills. In order to create a culture of high quality, it is paramount to understand the existing culture. I believe the programme will support me to examine the current culture on the ward using a structured approach. Additionally, the programme will assist me in identifying areas that are working well, and which areas could be improved. Furthermore, I hope to learn skills to actively engage staff, and develop ways to keep the team motivated to sustain change to enhance patient care.

Staff wellbeing is of high importance to me, ensuring all staff feel valued and supported; this has a huge impact on the care that is provided to the patients. Due to having a challenging workload, at times I am guilty of not spending enough time with all the team and asking the question: ‘What is it like to work on the ward, what’s good and what can be improved?’. However, with the guidance from the programme, this will support me to prioritise staff engagement and wellbeing, by exploring different ideas and opportunities of getting the team together to help empower the staff to develop a shared purpose to lead change.

As part of the programme, I would like to enhance the philosophy that keeps the person and their family/carer at the centre of their care and decision making. Improving the caring culture on the ward would encourage engagement from patients, families and carers. By recognising the importance of families/carers and providing time to listen, facilitate choice, sharing information and building confidence to participate, and by working in partnership with family/carers, this will ensure the care provided is person-centred upholding dignity and respect at all times.

My overall aim is to strengthen the links in the chain between the patient, family and the multidisciplinary team to achieve a common goal to improve patient experience.

For more information please email: [email protected]