25th Apr 2021 - Written by Katy Westaway
Reading time: 3 minutes
The past 14 months have seen many changes in the way we work. Some good and some…well, to be honest…challenging. Video meetings definitely come under the ‘challenging’ heading, and I am sure that I am not alone in a quest to get people to bond and come together in video meetings! However, this is a challenge that we have faced head on with the Brunelcare Excellence in Nursing Programme (BEN).
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge advocate for digital, but digital can be difficult when it is the only option. When faced with creating an excellence in nursing programme at Brunelcare we knew that we would have to utilise digital heavily during the pandemic, as getting all of the registered nurses in one room was just not possible. But rather than say it was too big of an obstacle, we decided, as a team, to go for it and embrace the digital…and the, now infamous, video meeting.
Last week was our third video meeting with the BEN nurses and we all went into it with determination. We prepped speakers, and reminded participants that we wanted everyone to speak up and share.
The session was opened by our very own Chief Executive Oona Goldsworthy, who took some time to talk about her passion for social care and how everyone can make a difference. Then Eileen Sheppherd, clinical editor from the Nursing Times, spoke about writing for publication. Once both speakers had presented, something magical happened; things seemed to click into place and the BEN nurses suddenly realised they had a shared purpose. The enthusiasm from Oona and Eileen became infectious (in a good way!) and ideas around how we can all speak up as social care nurses started flying around.
A few of the BEN nurses had wonderful suggestions about how they could share their amazing work, ideas and opinions. In a recent BMJ article, Bevan & Henriks (2021) stated that “A shared sense of purpose, grounded in universal values, is the most powerful source of energy for action.” And this certainly seemed to be the case here, the passion in the digital room was tangible and it really was a powerful energy for action as here we are, week later, and I have had a huge amount of emails from BEN nurses all spurred into action. It’s wonderful to see and a privilege be part of.
Changes in the way we work can be challenging, but we can, and do, overcome them. Despite video meetings being not the preferred option, brilliant things can happen when you bring people together who share a purpose and a passion. I am really looking forward to the next few weeks as there are some really exciting ‘actions’ taking place that I can’t wait to share.
Oh, and even though we have now nailed the video meeting format, the next BEN nurses meeting is in person…ideas on how we can achieve socially distanced, covid compliant group photos are most welcome!