Welcome to the Acute Stroke Unit (B21)
B21 is located in the B block of the hospital on the second floor.
The ward has 23 inpatient beds. These are divided in to Hyperacute (1-5), Acute (6-13) and rehab (14-23) beds.
Key contacts
- Senior Charge Nurse – Niree Phillips
- Consultants – Dr Tony Byrne
- Consultants – Dr Gareth Blayney
- Consultant – Dr Jeyakumar Selwyn
Day to day ward
Consultants usually see new patients (will generally be in the Hyperacute beds) and those who are significantly unwell.
The ward round days will vary depending on the consultant’s on-call commitments.
Unless there are urgent issues to deal with, you are expected to accompany the consultant on the ward round so you know what is going on with your patients, be able to present cases, receive feedback, learn and be educated.
Typical staffing/rota
Level of staffing is from a pool of: Nurse Practitioner, FY1, FY2 and a mix of GPST/IMT/ST (6 total maximum). Most days the ward will have one NP, one FY1 and 2 middle grades.
There is also a pharmacist based on ward B21, alongside a large team of experienced AHPs.
Responsibilities
FY1:
- Go on ward round. Request and chase bloods as appropriate. Organise discharge medications and discharge letters. As the FY1 becomes more experienced they have the opportunity to do their own section of the ward with supervision.
Middle grade:
- If there are 3 middle grade doctors, the workload can be split into hyperacute, acute and rehabilitation patients. This will aid continuity and helps the nurses looking after these patients to know who to contact.
- If there are 2 middle grade doctors then the ward should be split 2 ways based on workload. Usually the hyperacute patients require the most input, followed by acute and then the rehabilitating patients.
- Expected to carry out ward round and feedback to nursing team, liaise with AHP colleagues regarding MDT rehabilitation and discharge planning. Support FY1 and NP with management of unwell patients.
Education
The B21 team come together with the wider Ageing & Health department for a Friday lunchtime education session which will involve outside speakers, updates or junior doctor presentations. Additionally there are opportunities for middle grade doctors to hold the thrombolysis phone for ED referrals and FY1s are encouraged to take on responsibility for leading sections of the ward round.
There are also fortnightly Stroke Governance Meetings which are excellent learning opportunities for junior doctors, this involves discussing patients referred to the stroke service and reviewing images.
Useful Info
The thrombolysis phone (67691) will be held by the consultant or the registrar. If there is a thrombolysis call and there are no urgent issues on the ward you should try and join the consultant.
The pharmacist is contactable by page 1932.