Recognition of leadership skills

Strong leadership, training and liaison skills were major contributors to Roberta Beacock’s winning of this year’s StateWest Achievement Award for an individual in a professional position.

The Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital nurse is a leader in her field, and became the first person to undertake the role of clinical nurse consultant intravascular therapy in Western Australia.

Her clinical skills are considered excellent, with a success rate for insertion of peripherally inserted central catheter lines of 98 per cent, the highest rate achieved by any medical staff at the hospital.

Ms Beacock is responsible for assessing all patients undergoing insertion of intravascular devices and ensuring high standards of intravascular therapy care throughout the hospital.

As part of her role, Ms Beacock advises other health services in establishing intravascular therapy roles, and has developed a written document to assist staff.

She is also involved in training and has designed a ‘train the trainer’ system, to ensure all staff are thoroughly educated in IV cannulation and care, while providing external education for the community and product companies. 

This has included developing teaching resources, such as patient information booklets and educational materials for newly appointed medical staff.

In March 2006, Ms Beacock ran the ‘2nd annual IV interest week’ at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to promote knowledge for staff and patients.

She has also presented at conferences and study days, and attended an international conference in England in 2005.

One of the initiatives developed by Ms Beacock is the intravascular therapy interest group, established two years ago to provide a forum for nurses and health professionals to share knowledge and develop standards of practice.

She has instigated quality improvement activities such as staff satisfaction surveys and colour coded labeling of IV lines to promote safety of infusional therapy and reduce clinical errors.

Ms Beacock also introduced better assessment and follow-up of chest x-rays in cancer patients, resulting in a decrease in infections and thrombosis.

She is currently involved in planning a national research and best practice website for health professionals.