‘Think Drink! – The Coloured Jug Hydration project’, from HSE Midlands Louth Meath Community Healthcare Organisation (MLMCHO) 8, presented by Ann Marie Burke, Nursing Practice Development Co-ordinator won the NOCA Quality Improvement Champion Award 2024.
Older people are particularly vulnerable to dehydration and the project aimed to tackle hydration rates in an older persons residential service. Orange 1 litre jugs of fresh fluid were given out in the mornings and once consumed, were replaced with a blue jug to indicate to staff that the resident was on their second 1 litre jug. This allowed staff to visually monitor residents’ fluid intake during the day, which enabled them to support and encourage residents to stay hydrated. NOCA said coloured jugs were a small, low cost measure which could have a big impact on residents’ hydration status.
“We had a record number of submissions this year from across the Irish healthcare system, underscoring the collective commitment to delivering positive change and improving healthcare quality,” said NOCA.
The highly commended projects were:
- Implementation of Electronic Clinical Pathways (ECP) for Patients Presenting with Hip Fractures to the Emergency Department in St. James’s Hospital – Presented by Ricardo Paco, Service Improvement Lead in the Lean Transformation Office, St James’s Hospital.
- To examine post-operative pain management on an acute Orthopaedic ward – Presented by Marie Richardson, Senior Pharmacist, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
- Reducing rates of hospital acquired venous thromboembolism in Bantry General Hospital – Presented by Carol Walsh, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Acute Medicine and Emer O’Sullivan, Quality, Patient Safety, and Risk Manager, Bantry General Hospital.
NOCA also held a NOCA Poster Competition.
The winner of the NOCA Poster Competition 2024 was ‘Improving patient access to critical care at St James’s Hospital’ – lead authors Zieta O’Hagan, Michelle Pacturanan and Jamila Francis, ICU Audit Nurse Coordinators, St James’s Hospital. There were 47 posters presented on the day.
The two highly commended posters were:
Skip the Dip for UTI in Over 65s Quality Improvement Initiative – lead authors Patricia Sheehan, Aisling Clancy, Mary Regan, Shirley Armitage, Callum Ryan, Mala Shah, Catherine Mannion, Olivia Gallagher, Roisin Foran, Margaret Donnelly and Nora Dwyer from HSE Community Health around Ireland.
Is there a role for music therapy in the dental care of children with complex medical needs? – lead authors Alison Sweeney, Elizabeth Ellard and Eleanor McGovern from Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street
The awards were presented by Brigid Doherty, Patient and Public Interest Lead with NOCA and Professor Conor O’Keane, Clinical Lead for Quality Improvement with NOCA. NOCA is the National Clinical Audits for Improving Patient Care.
