(April 2nd 2015) Three cardiology nurses from Tallaght Hospital were honoured at the Irish Healthcare Awards on Friday, March 27th, in relation to a cardiology initiative that has made an enormous contribution to improving the service to patients attending the hospital’s Emergency Department.
The initiative, the Nurse-led Chest Pain Service - Cardiology Nursing Department, was the winner of the best ‘Healthcare Department Initiative - Large/Teaching Hospital’.
Chest pain represents a major proportion of the workload of Tallaght’s Emergency Department and the goal for the health practitioner is to identify high-risk patients that require urgent treatment and to address the needs of lower risk patients for whom emerging heart disease is a concern.
The Nurse-led Chest Pain Service was developed in Tallaght Hospital two years ago to facilitate safe discharge from the Emergency Department for patients with non-Acute Coronary Syndromes chest pain. A Registered Advance Nurse Practitioner and two Clinical Nurse Specialists provide the service. In the first two years of its operation, over 1,300 patients have been safely discharged from Emergency Department for treatment in a follow up clinic – thereby speeding up the assessment and treatment of high-risk patients.
Tallaght Hospital’s CEO David Slevin stated “I want to congratulate Advanced Nurse Practitioner Shirley Ingram and her team on this outstanding achievement. Through their innovation, patients receive a quicker diagnosis that is of incalculable difference in terms of the care they receive and their peace of mind. In addition, the Emergency Department benefits from a more efficient delivery of its services. Harnessing and recognising innovation in our care is a key focus for our hospital and I want to thank all involved for their important work.”
The cost savings of this initiative in terms of reduced CDU admissions and general ward admissions has been estimated at up to €2.5 million. It is hoped that further posts can be created to enable the nurse-led service to expand into post triage and acute cardiac care.
