Community support

07/08/2024

Stephanie shares how community services can support people at home on artificial feeding
 
District nurses visit patients who are housebound, but we also make allowances for those whose needs are best met at home, rather than in hospital or at the doctor’s surgery.

There are many reasons why someone will have a home visit. Often, while a visit is for a specific purpose, the district nurse engages with people who may have more than one condition, and on occasions have intravenous or enteral feeding.

Illness can cause fatigue and difficulties in relation to accessing medical centres or suchlike. While people recover and adjust a visit from a district nurse can ensure appropriate treatment and care is given and maintained.

Our district nursing team have been visiting a lady on parenteral nutrition to support with medication administration. We administer an anticoagulation medication by injection, a blood thinner to mitigate her risk of another blood clot which she experienced following her first PICC line.

She uses her PICC line for parenteral nutrition (PN), so the medication supports her to retain the line and receive her feed. These injections are usually something patients can learn to do themselves but, due to this patient’s complex health, she requires a nurse for now.

While we see the occasional person on artificial nutrition, it has been good to learn more about what is involved with PN. Not only do we learn about the nutrition itself, but the various issues people mange linked to the need for it. It’s really insightful.

In addition to growing our knowledge about artificial nutrition as our team have been visiting a PINNT member for much of the year, it has been interesting to learn about PINNT.

As a community nurse, I always value being able to visit patients at home as it is a more relaxed environment for them and allows us to get to know more about who people are, rather than just seeing them as patients.

Also, over the time we have been seeing her, she has made progress with her PN and is slowly starting to increase her weight, which is great to see and be part of, even in a small way.
 

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