The Implementation of a Model of Person-Centred Practice In Older ...

The implementation of a model of person-centred practice in older person settings
Summary
This two year PD programme at Birr Community Nursing Unit and St Marys’ Care
Centre Mullingar was successful in facilitating teams at both sites to establish a
shared vision for nursing practice in services for older people. Achieving this required
staff to examine and own both concerns and issues as well as positive aspects of the
existing practice. Through a variety of activities, many of which included older
persons, participants and other staff developed a deeper understanding of how their
care impacted on older persons and their families. Through introduction to the
generic values and principles underpinning person-centred practice and by
collaborating with the wider team on a programme of practice development, a
significant change in the culture of care has taken place at ward or unit level.
However, even after two years, these are only the foundations for achieving more
sustainable cultural changes that still need to take place more broader in the
facilities. The local HSE will need to carry on investing in the type of learning that
supports person-centred care and service delivery.
In this initiative, a tailor made programme was combined with skilled facilitation,
active learning and programme co-ordination to enable the processes and outcomes
in this programme to happen. Facilitation also included offering a range of PD
processes and tools for participants to use in their own workplaces to become
leaders of PD.
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