Evidence-based nursing care without walls

Karen Li Ka-ying
Advanced Practice Nurse
Princess Margaret Hospital

Community nurse Karen Li does more than visiting patients at home. She immensely contributed to the integration of Community Nursing Service (CNS) and Integrated Care Model into a single point of contact for discharge planning in Princess Margaret Hospital in 2017. The service integration streamlines the workflow and enables patients to receive appropriate assessment, triage and community care services. In addition, she advocates evidence-based research to raise the nursing standard and improve patient experience.

Studies of clinical treatments are commonly found while evidence-based practice or research on homecare nursing are forward far between. As a department representative, Karen judiciously used current best evidence in making clinical decisions and worked out patient-centred protocol in community care. For instance, she initiated in 2017 a project ‘A Trial without Catheter Model for Non-ambulatory Patients in Community’ to perform home care urinary catheter treatment. The three-time outreach practice was also streamlined to a single visit which has improved service efficiency. Karen sees evidence-based practice as a solid foundation of policy and strategy making of nursing care delivery. It also helps promote the development of nursing profession in academic arena and attract new blood for CNS.

Treating patients like her family, every appointment with them are valuable to Karen. “They are ‘the host’ in a home visit. We need a thorough understanding of their medical history, habits, self-care ability, relationship with family members, social support network and personal pursuits, in order to design the best care plan for them. Communication and counselling make patients happy and positive, foster mutual trust with patients and caregivers, and thus enhance treatment effectiveness. Seeing their smiles is the greatest motivation to me.”